June 3: Activated SS Ricky Widmar from the 10-day IL, waived SS Austin Martin and designated him for assignment.
Glad to have Widmar back, he was missed. Martin didn't want to go back to Durham so we had to waive him.
Game 1: Despite getting Ricky Widmar back we had to play shorthanded tonight with Victor de Jesus, Jasson Dominguez and Luis Corpus all fatigued. This meant Xavier Edwards got a start as did Dane Ayers and Jakob Runnels. So it was going to be tough sledding on offense but Jon Hayes didn't help, getting hit hard by his old team in an 8-6 loss that wasn't really that close (more on that in a second). Hayes gave up a 3-run homer to Julio Rodriguez in the 4th and single runs in the 5th and 6th to finish 5.2 7 5 5 2 6 and saw his ERA rise to 4.91. Jon Whiteleather and Chris Hicks weren't very good in relief either, allowing 3 runs in the final 2 1/3 between them. So going into the 9th it was an 8-1 Twins blowout with Edwards' RBI single the only Rays run but Minnesota reliever Jared Coulter couldn't get anyone out to start the inning as we got three walks and pair of hits off him along with a Minnesota error then a hit off former Ray Jeremy Bowers (part of deal in which we got Hayes) and suddenly it was 8-5, the bases were loaded, and still nobody out. But Minnesota's saving grace was the useless Runnels, working an another sub-Mendoza season, and he grounded into a double play that brought home a run but short-circuited the rally, and Ricky Widmar grounded out to end the game. Of course the Yankees did what we did yet again and that was lose, so status quo in the division race.
Time for a trade:
As you can tell from my recent game commentary, I've had it with Runnels. For a year and a half now, it's been like having a pitcher hit when he's in the lineup. Alvarez is a big upgrade but is a free agent at year's end, when Will Quintana will finally get his shot to be the backup. Duran was the key for the Mets here, he was our 2030 July 2 signing but he's a 1B projected to be a second-division starter and we're so deep at the position that he likely won't be missed.
Game 2: Back on top, baby. The Rays crushed Minnesota 12-1 behind Christian Little and Bo Angeac and the Yankees lost in extra innings in Baltimore, putting the Rays in first place for the first time in a couple of weeks. Little had his patented electric stuff, but was a bit wild and pitch-inefficient, going 5 3 1 1 4 11 and leaving with two on in the sixth and nobody out up 4-1. Nate Thompson came in and hit the first man he faced to load the bases, but he got two clutch strikeouts and a fly ball to get out of it, and pitched the 7th as well before Danny Medina went two perfect innings to close it out with a big lead. Angeac led the hitting attack, coming through while it was still a game. They went up 1-0 on Dayle Jenkins' 5th HR but Angeac went deep off a tough customer in Jordan Wicks with his 6th to make it 2-0 in the 3rd, and then he doubled in a run to make it 3-1 in the 5th. Ricky Widmar's grounder made it 4-1 and Luis Corpus's sac fly increased the lead to 5-1 in the 7th. Then they went to town in the final two innings, scoring 7 in total including a 2-run shot from Rodolfo Rivas (#10) and a 435-foot blast from Victor de Jesus (#14). Angeac, who is now an impressive 324/405/649 with 6 HR and 15 RBI in 21 games while playing with a nagging elbow injury, drove in another during the rallies and finished with 3 RBI, as did Corpus who added a 2-run single. Little improves to 5-2, 3.66 and leads MLB in pitcher WAR at 2.6.
June 5: Optioned P Chris Hicks to AAA Durham, purchased the contract of P David Sanchez from AAA Durham.
From year after year with 4 lefties in the pen, which worked quite well, we dropped to two this year after Evan Godwin became a free agent, Brad Ballmann was, well Brad Ballmann, and we needed to keep Danny Medina as he was out of options. Then of course Mike Mooney went down for the year and while we replaced him with Alexander Beltre, he's someone I want to use in the late innings. Which is all a roundabout way of saying we've added a lefty in Sanchez, our 3rd round pick in 2029 who's put up decent numbers in AAA and has 70 stuff (against lefties and righties). He has 50 movement and 45 control or he would have been up long before. He had a 2/12 BB/K ratio in 8.2 innings at Durham this year although he allowed 3 homers (a little out of character) and had 145 whiffs in 106 innings (with only 6 HR allowed) in 2 seasons at AA Montgomery.
Game 3: The Rays made it 2 straight once again and 4 of their last 5 with a 5-2 win over Minnesota. Alec Sachais pitched 6 strong innings, the bullpen was great over the final 3, and a new acquisition made an impressive debut. The Rays got on the board first with a pair in the 2nd when D'Andre Hodges (filling in for a tired Nate Clark) doubled home Jasson Dominguez, and after Hodges made it to third with two out, Francisco Alvarez in his Rays debut hit a hard grounder that Twins SS Royce Lewis could only knock down, scoring Hodges. Sachais gave the lead right back in the bottom of the inning on a pair of solo homers, including one to a former catcher of his Ryan Jeffers. But Jaiden Hardaway had a big RBI double in the 5th to give the Rays the lead back to stay, and Sachais ended up 6 6 2 2 2 5 which was good enough for his 6th win of the year and lowered his ERA to 3.95. Tim Siqueiros got four big outs while the Rays tacked two more on in the 8th. Bo Angeac singled and Alvarez came through again, doubling him to 3rd before Ricky Widmar singled them both home to give the Rays some breathing room. Alexander Beltre retired both lefties he faced in the 8th, and Jordan Diaz got it done again in the 9th despite a walk for save #6. And with the Yankees losing again in Baltimore, they also have some breathing room at the top of the division, now up 1 1/2 games.
June 6: Placed P Jon Soranno on the 15-day IL with an abdominal strain retroactive to June 1, recalled P Eric Carter from AAA Durham.
So it turned out that Soranno's ab strain is a little more serious than though so he's not going to make his start today. Instead the just-recalled David Sanchez will make the start and go at least 3-4 innings hopefully. Soranno should be ready when he's eligible to come off the IL in 9 days so he'll miss one more turn and with an off-day coming up we can probably just skip it. The just-demoted Chris Hicks, who would have come back up, pitched last night in Durham so Carter is a fresh arm to get the call after pitching briefly for us last season.
Game 4: Well the David Sanchez spot start went about as poorly as expected, with the Twins scoring twice against him in the first, and then after a 1-2-3 2nd, jumping all over him in the 3rd as he ended 2.2 6 5 5 3 2 with fellow callup Eric Carter coming in with 2 on, 2 out and 2 in and walking two straight batters to force in the 5th run. But despite falling into a 5-0 hole the Rays nearly pulled off the comeback only to lose 5-4. It helped that the bullpen continued its renaissance, with Danny Medina going 2 1/3 scoreless in relief of Carter who had to leave in the 4th with wrist soreness, and scoreless innings from Tim Siqueiros and Jose Alvarado. Still it looked like a no-hoper with Arturo Roque shutting them out through 5, but Nate Clark (#17) and Rodolfo Rivas (#11) went back-to-back against him in the 6th to make it 5-2, and in the 7th two more reached with Luis Corpus drilling a 2-run double to make it 5-4. Corpus took third on the throw and was there with only one out, but he couldn't be brought home. And after putting the first two on in the 8th, the Rays couldn't advance them. Not helping today was Victor de Jesus, so hot until he took the collar yesterday and did again today, whiffing 3 times. And the Yankees won so they're back within 1/2 game of the lead.
Team record: 32-23. Next up: We head to the desert to take on Arizona for 3 games.