Congrats to Victor:
Game 1: The Rays welcomed back Jon Hayes, who won 60 games for them the previous 3 seasons and now wears the colors of the Los Angeles Angels, while Alec Sachais took the mound for Tampa Bay, barely clinging on to his rotation spot. It looked like Sachais' days were numbered when he gave up a leadoff single then a 2-run homer to Mookie Betts, but he settled down after that and turned in his best start of the season, going 6 8 2 2 1 5 and matching Hayes pitch-for-pitch. That's because the Rays got a couple of early runs off Hayes on Jaiden Hardaway's solo HR (#5) and a Rodolfo Rivas RBI single. But like Sachais, Hayes found his groove and it was 2-2 going into the 7th. Mike Wherry took over and got through the top of the inning and then Hayes left a batter in at 106 pitches. LA brought on another former Rays property, Chris Youngpeter, and the bats took advantage with Rivas drilling a 3-run HR (#9) to make it 5-2. Kikuo Kawase whiffed a pair in a scoreless 8th and then Bo Angeac hit a 2-run shot (#10) to expand the lead to 7-2, which was the final score after Chris Hicks pitched around a couple of men he put on to get through the 9th as Wherry nabbed his first Rays win. Hardaway was named star of the game after getting on all 4 times with 3 hits and a walk, including his homer.
MAJOR INJURY UPDATE: Ricky Widmar had to leave the game with a shoulder injury and it turns out he has a torn labrum which will put him out 4 1/2 months, ending his regular season with perhaps a return for the playoffs. A major blow especially with Dane Ayers on the IL through next month. Melvin Gutierrez becomes the full-time SS, and while he's a 75 defender he's a lousy hitter. We have enough offense to carry him but I'll be on the prowl for some help, although Ayers will take over the job once he's healthy. Jeff Baez, our top SS prospect, is hurt as well and is out a few more weeks.
May 24: Placed SS Ricky Widmar on the 60-day IL with a torn labrum, purchased the contract of IF Erik Batchelder from AAA Durham.
Batchelder was our 1st round pick back in 2026 and he's toiled 7 long years in the minors. He was excellent in last year's playoffs for Durham and has carried that over into the regular season, hitting 326/368/571 in 132 AB, and he's a 65 defender at 2B and SS. These numbers are way over his head based on his ratings, and he's considered a .250 hitter with doubles power. But he'll do for now.
Game 2: Things did not start off at well for the Rays today as Leo Ortega gave the Angels single runs in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd on a homer and a couple of extra-base hits while Danny DeJesus retired the first 9 Rays batters. But the bats took over from there, clubbing 5 homers in a 10-4 rout of Los Angeles. Jaiden Hardaway broke the ice with #6 leading off the 4th, a few batters later Bo Angeac hit a 3-run shot (#11), and then Alex Buitrago went back-to-back with Rivas for #8 and it was suddenly 5-3 Rays. LA answered back with an unearned run in the 5th off Ortega, which just made the Rays mad so they tacked on 4 more runs in the bottom of the inning including a 3-run blast from Rodolfo Rivas (#10), and Luis Corpus added #8 in the 6th. Everyone in the lineup ended up with a least one hit, and everyone except Dayle Jenkins and Victor de Jesus had an RBI. Ortega went 6 6 4 3 0 4 in a mediocre outing to improve to 7-2, 3.90 while Danny Medina pitched a pair of scoreless innings and Jim Connors got some work in pitching the 9th.
Game 3: Nate Schultz had a no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings and Jaiden Hardaway hit a pair of homers to lead the Rays to a 6-2 win over the Angels, their third straight in the series and 8th straight overall. Schultz had his best stuff today and overpowered LA, striking out 13 in his 7 2/3 innings. His pitch count had reached the 110s in the 8th and he walked Angels C Alan Arcangeli for the third time today (of 4 walks total) and then Rich Gil drilled a 2-run homer into the RF bullpen to cost Schultz the no-hitter and the shutout, but not the win. He's now 6-0, 3.69 and has 85 whiffs in 63 1/3 innings this year. Tim Siqueiros got the final out of the 8th and Mike Wherry had a 1-2-3 9th. Hardaway paced the offense with solo homers in the 5th and the 7th as well as a sac fly, and Nate Clark hit #19 with the bases empty in the 3rd. Erik Batchelder got his first MLB start and manufactured the first Rays run by singling, stealing second, advancing to 3rd on the bad throw and scoring on Hardaway's sac fly. It wasn't all wine and roses though as he did make an error in the 8th after Schultz lost the no-hitter.
Game 4: The Angels came into this series with one of the better records in AL at 28-18 and the Rays just tossed them aside, sweeping the series and extending their win streak to 9 with a 13-5 victory today. LA actually took a 5-2 lead in the 4th and chased Jon Soranno from the game but the Rays lefty kept his perfect 7-0 record intact anyway after the Rays scored 10 times in the 4th and 5th innings combined. Soranno left with a rough 3.2 7 5 5 1 5 line and saw his ERA rise to 3.21 but Danny Medina took over and was brilliant going 3 1/3 with only one hit allowed and 3 whiffs to get his 2nd win of the year. Bob Sirna went the final two scoreless. On offense it was a team effort, with 4 players homering, 5 driving in 2 runs apiece, and everyone in the lineup getting at least one hit. Today's HR parade saw #20 from Nate Clark, #12 from Bo Angeac, #4 from Mike Harms (back-to-back with Angeac) and #9 from Jaiden Hardaway (his 5th in the last 4 games). Victor de Jesus was 3-4 with a double and an RBI, and they even got 3 RBI combined from Will Quintana and Melvin Gutierrez.
Team record: 40-10. Next up: A road trip begins with a weekend in Minnesota.