[Art Deco]

It was a big series against one of their direct wild card competitors, and it wasn't a very good one for the Rays as they dropped 2 of 3 to the Rangers. The only good news to come out of the three days was that the Jays were swept by the White Sox, enabling the Rays to get back within 2 games of the division lead. They're now in a 3-way tie with the Angels and Astros for the second wild card spot (Texas is now 1st in the West), 2 games behind Detroit.

The opener was emblematic of how things have gone for the Rays this year since their 11-1 start: great pitching and lousy hitting as they lost 1-0 to Texas. Joe Ryan pitched his best game of the year (6 5 0 0 0 9) and had nothing to show for it after Jonathan Loaisiga gave up 3 hits to start off the 8th allowing Texas the lone run of the game. The bats only managed 5 hits with 2 each from Alex Kirilloff and Carter Kieboom and only one from the rest of the squad.

The runs did flow in the second game as the Rays took an 8-4 win over Texas. They only had 2 doubles and 0 homers among their 9 hits but drew 9 walks which aided greatly in scoring. The offense was spread around, but Victor Robles drove in 3 with a bases-loaded HBP and a 2-run single while Adley Rutschman was 2-4 with a double and an RBI in a rare productive 2026 game for him. Tarik Skubal continued his outstanding season going 6 2 2 2 3 8 to improve to 5-4, 2.32 and after Alex Vesia made a mess in the 8th allowing 2 runs, Tylor Megill got him out of it and finished the game for his first Rays save. Megill has been a revelation since being claimed on waivers from the Mets: his combined line since joining is 13.1 5 1 1 6 21 with 0 homers allowed.

Drew Rasmussen was a godsend last season after being acquired from Milwaukee for Austin Meadows and helped turn the season around culminating in a World Series title. But so far this year since coming back from injury he's been a mess in his two starts and the Rays fell 9-5 to Texas in a game that really wasn't even that close. Rasmussen was hit for 5 runs in the 1st including 3 walks and a grand slam and was hit from there to the tune of 3.1 5 8 8 5 3. It was 9-2 going into the bottom of the 9th before they mounted a rally that saw the tying run in the on-deck circle before fizzling. Andrew Greckel homered twice (#7 & 8) and Heston Kjerstad had a solo shot (#14).

Team record: 34-26. Next up: An off-day then another big series as they travel to Toronto for 3 games. At least they'll have their #1-3 starters lined up for this one.

MLB News: On the 4th former Ray Randy Arozarena tied the MLB record for homers in a game with 4 against Cincinnati in a 12-8 Dodgers win. It was a big night for multi-homer games with El Paso's (formerly Pittsburgh) Oneil Cruz and Houston's Francisco Lindor each having 3-homer games as well.