The traditional Opening Day box:
A frustrating opener for the Rays as Shane McClanahan was hit hard and although the offense banged out 13 hits they had a difficult time getting th runners home. One bright start was that mega-prospect Carson Williams had a nice MLB debut, getting on base three times including his first big-league hit.
March 29: at Seattle 8-9 L. LP-Adam (0-1). Starter-Springs (3 8 6 6 2 7). HR-Caminero (1), Kjerstad (1). A painful loss as they came all the way back from a 6-2 deficit thanks to a rough outing from Springs with Kjerstad's grand slam putting them up 8-7 in the top of the 8th. But Jason Adam looked more like the 2024 version than the one from 2022-23, allowing 2 runs in the bottom of the frame to lose it.
Transaction: Isaac Paredes comes off the restricted list and
Parker Meadows is optioned to Durham.
March 30: at Seattle 1-2 L. LP-Enright (0-1). Starter-Bradley (5 3 1 0 6 2). After allowing 14 runs in the first two games the Rays got the pitching (although Bradley was unusually wild) but the offense took the day off as they get off to a rough 0-3 start.
March 31: at Seattle 6-5 W. WP-Rasmussen (1-0, 6 7 5 4 1 3). S-Fairbanks (1). HR-Caminero (2). Trailing 5-1 through 6 the Rays were staring at an 0-4 start to the year before exploding for 5 in the 7th and holding on for their first win of 2025. The big blow was Caminero's 3-run homer, which capped the rally and put them on top.
April 1: at San Francisco 4-1 W. WP-Littell (1-0, 5.2 7 1 1 1 5). S-Maldonado (1). HR-Caminero (3), T.Hernandez (1), C.Williams (1). Quality pitching and a trio of solo homers, including the first MLB homer for
Carson Williams and
Teoscar Hernandez's first Rays shot, led the way for a 2nd straight win.
April 2: at San Francisco 4-3 W. WP-McClanahan (1-1, 6.1 3 1 1 2 4). S-Maldonado (2). Rays scored 4 times in the 5th to go ahead 4-0 and then hung on by their fingernails to make it 3 straight wins and back to .500. Mac bounced back nicely from his rough Opening Day and got his first win since 2023 and Hernandez's 2-run single was the big hit.
April 3: at San Francisco 1-2 L. LP-Fairbanks (0-1). Starter-Springs (6 5 1 1 1 7). This one was lost in the bottom of the 9th when Fairbanks walked the bases loaded with one out, got a whiff, but then gave up a walk-off single. Not much offense with a Williams triple leading to their only run.
April 4: Off Day.
April 5: vs NY Yankees 4-1 W. WP-Bradley (1-0, 9 4 1 1 1 6). HR-T.Hernandez (2). Taj took a 3-hit shutout into the 9th before giving up a homer to Anthony Volpe with two out but still managed a 103-pitch complete game as he was masterful in the home opener. Teoscar's 2-run homer in the 5th broke a 0-0 deadlock and turned out to be all the runs Bradley would need.
April 6: vs NY Yankees 4-2 W. WP-Rasmussen (2-0, 7 3 1 1 1 7). S-Fairbanks (2). HR-J.Lowe (1), Kjerstad (2), Yanier Diaz (1). Those three guys hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the 2nd and Ras rolled from there as ever since the Seattle series the formula of modest offense + great pitching that OOTP said would win 96 games has settled into place.
April 7: vs NY Yankees 5-4 W. WP-Maldonado (1-0). Starter-Littell (5 6 3 3 1 2). HR-Aranda (1). High drama at the Trop as the Rays came back from 4-1 down in the 7th to tie, then walked it off on back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the 9th from
Carson Williams and
Yandy Diaz to complete the sweep and make it six wins from seven after starting the year 0-3.
Team record: 6-4, good for a share of first place in the AL East. Next week: NL champs Atlanta visit for 3 before a day off and a trip to Chicago to play 3 against the White Sox.