Game 1: The Rays offense must have felt they scored enough runs in August since they've taken the final two nights of the month off, following up a 2-1 loss to Austin with a 2-0 loss to the Twins at Publix Park. They only eked out three hits, two off the bat of Paul Mayes, and wasted a solid Jorge Barraza (14-10) start of 5 7 2 2 2 4 and four shutout innings from the pen.
September 1: Recalled 1B Ruben Brown and RP Erik Witten from AAA Durham.
Time for September roster expansion and the call-up on the hitting side is Brown, a rookie 1B who's more than MLB ready (rated 60 contact, 60 power, 55 eye) and who hit 340/419/643 at Durham. With Aponte and Gonzales, 1B & DH are spoken for so Brown is going to be mainly a pinch-hitter in September and one of the three could very well be dealt in the offseason. On the pitching side we activated Witten from his rehab stint with the Bulls.
Game 2: With the change in the calendar the offense came back to life and the Rays beat the Twins 7-4. The only negative was another struggling start from ace Dave Rose, who went 4.2 7 3 3 3 6 and couldn't qualify for the win, which instead went to Victor Boria (7-0) with Jake Cid picking up his 9th save. Rose has allowed 14 runs in 15 innings over his last 3 starts and is hopefully just getting something out of his system before the playoffs. Meanwhile backup CF Brian Whittaker had a career day, leading off the game with a homer (#2) and adding a pair of doubles one of which drove in two more plus a stolen base for good measure. Jesus Avalos also knocked in three including a 2-run homer (#32).
Game 3: Elijah Whitaker and the offense were brilliant today as Tampa Bay routed Minnesota 10-1 to take the series. Whitaker (15-5) gave up a 2nd inning solo homer and virtually nothing else in going 7 2 1 1 0 8 and Angel Gonzales celebrated being named August's AL Batter of the Month by singling in a run in the 3rd for RBI #100 and later adding a 2-run double. Alex Brown belted a 2-run homer (#6) and Paul Mayes contributed a 2-run double.
Team record: 91-47, magic number down to 13. Next up: Off to the Great White North to play 3 against the Jays.
As alluded to above:
