Game 1: 5-3 W. WP-Vargas (5-1). S-R.Rodriguez (27). Starter-Fragoso (4 7 3 3 2 6). HR-Y.Alvarez (15). Haro's RBI double in the 6th broke a 3-3 tie in the Rays' favor as they took the opener from Cleveland. The rookie Gurrola was 2-4 with an RBI triple in his home debut.
Game 2: 6-5 W. WP-Boyle (1-0). Starter-Stone (6 7 5 5 1 5). HR-Pino (8/29), Gurrola (1). Kevin White had his first big moment as a Ray, singling in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th and completing a comeback from down 5-1. Pino's 3-run homer in the 5th got them back in the game and then Gurrola's first MLB dinger in the 7th tied it up. Haro was 4-4 as he stayed red-hot.
Game 3: Too much offense to recap so I'll let the box score do the talking:
Team record: 65-41. The Rays have now won 6 in a row and 10 of their last 11 and finally moved into the first place in the AL East by 1/2 game over the Yankees. Next up: A day off then 3 huge games in the Bronx against those very Yankees.
We didn't do anything additional at the trade deadline after making the major deals for Pino and White and adding Boyle to the bullpen.
And not exactly a surprise here:
