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Art Deco · 01-27-2022, 08:40 PM

The woes continued with an opening game loss in the series, their 9th in 10 games after winning 11 of their first 12, but a couple of one-run wins to to take the series have righted the ship for now after a little bit of a roster shakeup.

Transaction: We claimed P Jonathan Loaisiga on waivers from the Mets, and optioned P Guillermo Zuniga to AAA Durham. Zuniga has been the human yo-yo over the last couple years but had generally pitched well whenever with the big club; however this year though he has struggled considerably. Loaisiga signed with the Mets after playing out his option with the Yankees and has 65/50/65 ratings as a reliever despite a rough start to the year which saw him waived. We'll use him out of the pen for now but if need be he can make some starts. His $1.8M salary isn't going to set us back much.

The opener against the Mariners at the Trop was more of the recent same: fine starting pitching, lousy bullpen work letting the game get away, and anemic hitting. Dustin May was 6 5 2 2 4 8 in yet another excellent outing, left down 2-1 and then DL Hall, Jake Miller and Levi Kelly combined to allow 3 more runs. That proved costly as a 9th-inning rally saw the Rays score twice but fall short 5-3. The offense only had 2 hits through 8 (a familiar refrain) before getting 3 in the 9th. Andrew Greckel was 2-4 with 2 RBI.

Transactions: 1B Angelo DiSpigna was optioned to AAA Durham, and Heliot Ramos was put on the 10-day IL with a bruised hand suffered in last night's game. The Ramos injury really isn't enough to normally IL him as it was 5 days and "minimal" but I wanted an excuse (and a roster spot) to bring Marcell Ozuna up as we purchased his contract and set ourselves back about $1.5M. Ozuna won't play every day but will be in against lefties. Meanwhile, we also brought up Brett Baty to take DiSpigna's place, and he'll platoon at 1B with Kody Hoese. Baty had 4 HR and 11 RBI at Durham while DiSpigna, a revelation last year, is off to a miserable 162/227/299 start with 2 HR. It's a bit of a knee-jerk move but I was tired of seeing DiSpigna constantly whiff. Baty's rated for 65 power just like DiSpigna but has a better hit tool.

It's too early to say the moves paid off but we'll take correlation if not causation right now as the Rays finally snapped out of their funk with a 6-5 win. The offense came to life with 3 in the first and Victor Robles had an outstanding game, going 3-4 with 3 runs scored and a solo homer in the 6th (#6) which proved to be the game-winner. Kody Hoese also went deep (#2) while Carter Kieboom continued his good start by going 3-4 with an RBI double. Joe Ryan started and wasn't that good once again, allowing runs in each of the first 4 innings, but hung around for the win after going 6 6 4 4 1 5. He's now 2-1 despite a Boeing-like 7.15 ERA. JT Ginn retired all 5 men he faced, 4 via the strikeout, to record his 2nd save. Marcell Ozuna was 0-3 with an RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the 1st in his Rays debut.

Heston Kjerstad led off the bottom of the 8th with a solo homer (#3) to break a 3-3 tie and give the Rays a 4-3 win over Seattle to win their first series in their last four. Kjerstad's blast made a winner of Jonathan Loaisiga in his Rays debut as the righty pitched a scoreless 8th and stayed in to save his own win, finishing with 2 1-hit innings with 3 Ks. Adley Rutschman supplied the first 3 runs with an RBI groundout and a 2-run HR (#2) while Tarik Skubal turned in a quality start at 6 6 3 3 2 5.

Team record: 14-10. Toronto dropped 2 of 3 to Detroit so the Rays actually gained a game, now 3 back in the division and tied with the Angels for the two wild card spots. Next up: An off-day then we host the Yankees for 3, who are coming off a game against the White Sox a couple of days ago in which they hit 9 homers.

01-27-2022, 08:40 PM	#448
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,603	April 24-26, 2026: vs Seattle (3) The woes continued with an opening game loss in the series, their 9th in 10 games after winning 11 of their first 12, but a couple of one-run wins to to take the series have righted the ship for now after a little bit of a roster shakeup. Transaction: We claimed P Jonathan Loaisiga on waivers from the Mets, and optioned P Guillermo Zuniga to AAA Durham. Zuniga has been the human yo-yo over the last couple years but had generally pitched well whenever with the big club; however this year though he has struggled considerably. Loaisiga signed with the Mets after playing out his option with the Yankees and has 65/50/65 ratings as a reliever despite a rough start to the year which saw him waived. We'll use him out of the pen for now but if need be he can make some starts. His $1.8M salary isn't going to set us back much. The opener against the Mariners at the Trop was more of the recent same: fine starting pitching, lousy bullpen work letting the game get away, and anemic hitting. Dustin May was 6 5 2 2 4 8 in yet another excellent outing, left down 2-1 and then DL Hall, Jake Miller and Levi Kelly combined to allow 3 more runs. That proved costly as a 9th-inning rally saw the Rays score twice but fall short 5-3. The offense only had 2 hits through 8 (a familiar refrain) before getting 3 in the 9th. Andrew Greckel was 2-4 with 2 RBI. Transactions: 1B Angelo DiSpigna was optioned to AAA Durham, and Heliot Ramos was put on the 10-day IL with a bruised hand suffered in last night's game. The Ramos injury really isn't enough to normally IL him as it was 5 days and "minimal" but I wanted an excuse (and a roster spot) to bring Marcell Ozuna up as we purchased his contract and set ourselves back about $1.5M. Ozuna won't play every day but will be in against lefties. Meanwhile, we also brought up Brett Baty to take DiSpigna's place, and he'll platoon at 1B with Kody Hoese. Baty had 4 HR and 11 RBI at Durham while DiSpigna, a revelation last year, is off to a miserable 162/227/299 start with 2 HR. It's a bit of a knee-jerk move but I was tired of seeing DiSpigna constantly whiff. Baty's rated for 65 power just like DiSpigna but has a better hit tool. It's too early to say the moves paid off but we'll take correlation if not causation right now as the Rays finally snapped out of their funk with a 6-5 win. The offense came to life with 3 in the first and Victor Robles had an outstanding game, going 3-4 with 3 runs scored and a solo homer in the 6th (#6) which proved to be the game-winner. Kody Hoese also went deep (#2) while Carter Kieboom continued his good start by going 3-4 with an RBI double. Joe Ryan started and wasn't that good once again, allowing runs in each of the first 4 innings, but hung around for the win after going 6 6 4 4 1 5. He's now 2-1 despite a Boeing-like 7.15 ERA. JT Ginn retired all 5 men he faced, 4 via the strikeout, to record his 2nd save. Marcell Ozuna was 0-3 with an RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the 1st in his Rays debut. Heston Kjerstad led off the bottom of the 8th with a solo homer (#3) to break a 3-3 tie and give the Rays a 4-3 win over Seattle to win their first series in their last four. Kjerstad's blast made a winner of Jonathan Loaisiga in his Rays debut as the righty pitched a scoreless 8th and stayed in to save his own win, finishing with 2 1-hit innings with 3 Ks. Adley Rutschman supplied the first 3 runs with an RBI groundout and a 2-run HR (#2) while Tarik Skubal turned in a quality start at 6 6 3 3 2 5. Team record: 14-10. Toronto dropped 2 of 3 to Detroit so the Rays actually gained a game, now 3 back in the division and tied with the Angels for the two wild card spots. Next up: An off-day then we host the Yankees for 3, who are coming off a game against the White Sox a couple of days ago in which they hit 9 homers.