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Art Deco · 02-21-2022, 03:52 PM

An excellent series for the Rays as they swept Oakland by an aggregate score of 18-3, but we did suffer an injury of note. Meanwhile Toronto needed a 9th-inning homer from Vlad Guerrero Jr in its series finale against the Angels to snap their 11-game losing streak, so our lead in the division is now a healthy 7 games. It's amazing how we went from a real race (and at one point earlier 5 behind the Jays) to a comfortable lead in the space of a week.

It was looking like the typical Dustin May start as we were 0-0 through 5 in the opener and he gave up a run to allow Oakland to take the lead. Following that script from earlier in the season would have meant the bullpen gave up a couple more and the Rays would have ended up losing 4-1 or something. But they exploded for 5 runs over the next two innings to take a 5-1 win. The bad news though: May had to leave with 2 out in the 6th with shoulder inflammation. Thankfully it's not terribly serious but factoring in a rehab start he'll miss about a month. He finished 5.2 4 1 1 3 5 and his record will sit at 8-6, 2.92 for a while. Jonathan Loaisiga got the final out of the 6th for his 5th win. The rally came courtesy of the recently much-maligned Wander Franco whose RBI single in the 6th tied it and whose 2-run double in the 7th broke it open. Marcell Ozuna's RBI single in the 6th proved to be the game-winner.

Transaction: Placed Dustin May on the 10-day IL with shoulder inflammation, recalled P Levi Kelly from AAA Durham.

With Slade Cecconi set to take May's place in the rotation and Levi Stoudt traded away I needed someone who could serve as a long reliever. Like his fellow Levi (Stoudt), Kelly hadn't pitched well with the Rays (ERAs of 5.51 and 5.40 the last two years) but did a good job at Durham after being demoted: in 10 starts he was 5-2, 3.67 with a 21/64 BB/K ratio in 54 innings.

Joe Ryan was sharp and Wander Franco continued to snap out of it in a 6-2 win in the second game. Ryan went 7 6 2 2 0 9 to improve to 9-7, 4.36 and Franco delivered a 3-run homer (#11) to cap a 6-run 2nd inning. Carter Kieboom's 2-run triple and Ed Howard's RBI double preceded the Franco blast as the Rays did all their scoring in the inning.

Another slumping Ray came through big as Adley Rutschman had a monster game while Tarik Skubal was about as dominant as I've seen him in a Rays uniform in a 7-0 shellacking of Oakland. Rutschman had a 2-run homer in the first (#11), an RBI double in the 5th and added an RBI single while Skubal made A's hitters look foolish in going 6.1 2 0 0 2 11. He's now 9-5, 3.08 and leads the AL in pitcher WAR at 3.1. I keep waiting for the homer regression to kick in with him (he's still rated 45 movement) but he's only allowed 4 in 99.1 IP so far. It'll probably come in the playoffs. Marcell Ozuna also homered (#5) and and Andrew Greckel was 2-4 with an RBI triple.

Team record: 63-39, tied with Detroit for tops in the AL. Arizona is an MLB-best 66-36. Next up: we head to Texas for 3.

MLB News: Rough news for Houston, fighting the Angels for the AL West lead. First they lost Jacob deGrom for the season with a ruptured disc, and then they lost slugging superstar 1B Yordan Alvarez for 5-6 weeks with plantar fascitis.

02-21-2022, 03:52 PM	#479
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,607	July 21-23, 2026: vs Oakland (3) An excellent series for the Rays as they swept Oakland by an aggregate score of 18-3, but we did suffer an injury of note. Meanwhile Toronto needed a 9th-inning homer from Vlad Guerrero Jr in its series finale against the Angels to snap their 11-game losing streak, so our lead in the division is now a healthy 7 games. It's amazing how we went from a real race (and at one point earlier 5 behind the Jays) to a comfortable lead in the space of a week. It was looking like the typical Dustin May start as we were 0-0 through 5 in the opener and he gave up a run to allow Oakland to take the lead. Following that script from earlier in the season would have meant the bullpen gave up a couple more and the Rays would have ended up losing 4-1 or something. But they exploded for 5 runs over the next two innings to take a 5-1 win. The bad news though: May had to leave with 2 out in the 6th with shoulder inflammation. Thankfully it's not terribly serious but factoring in a rehab start he'll miss about a month. He finished 5.2 4 1 1 3 5 and his record will sit at 8-6, 2.92 for a while. Jonathan Loaisiga got the final out of the 6th for his 5th win. The rally came courtesy of the recently much-maligned Wander Franco whose RBI single in the 6th tied it and whose 2-run double in the 7th broke it open. Marcell Ozuna's RBI single in the 6th proved to be the game-winner. Transaction: Placed Dustin May on the 10-day IL with shoulder inflammation, recalled P Levi Kelly from AAA Durham. With Slade Cecconi set to take May's place in the rotation and Levi Stoudt traded away I needed someone who could serve as a long reliever. Like his fellow Levi (Stoudt), Kelly hadn't pitched well with the Rays (ERAs of 5.51 and 5.40 the last two years) but did a good job at Durham after being demoted: in 10 starts he was 5-2, 3.67 with a 21/64 BB/K ratio in 54 innings. Joe Ryan was sharp and Wander Franco continued to snap out of it in a 6-2 win in the second game. Ryan went 7 6 2 2 0 9 to improve to 9-7, 4.36 and Franco delivered a 3-run homer (#11) to cap a 6-run 2nd inning. Carter Kieboom's 2-run triple and Ed Howard's RBI double preceded the Franco blast as the Rays did all their scoring in the inning. Another slumping Ray came through big as Adley Rutschman had a monster game while Tarik Skubal was about as dominant as I've seen him in a Rays uniform in a 7-0 shellacking of Oakland. Rutschman had a 2-run homer in the first (#11), an RBI double in the 5th and added an RBI single while Skubal made A's hitters look foolish in going 6.1 2 0 0 2 11. He's now 9-5, 3.08 and leads the AL in pitcher WAR at 3.1. I keep waiting for the homer regression to kick in with him (he's still rated 45 movement) but he's only allowed 4 in 99.1 IP so far. It'll probably come in the playoffs. Marcell Ozuna also homered (#5) and and Andrew Greckel was 2-4 with an RBI triple. Team record: 63-39, tied with Detroit for tops in the AL. Arizona is an MLB-best 66-36. Next up: we head to Texas for 3. MLB News: Rough news for Houston, fighting the Angels for the AL West lead. First they lost Jacob deGrom for the season with a ruptured disc, and then they lost slugging superstar 1B Yordan Alvarez for 5-6 weeks with plantar fascitis.