Rays 3, Angels 5
Record: 42-28
Attendance: 22,320 The attendance has been swollen by a variety of promotions, so it turns out the fans will show up if you make it worth their while.
Yesterday's comments about the Rays maybe considering a trade for Edwin Encarnacion were right on target, except it was the New York Yankees who swept in to make their monster batting order even more formidable. And so instead of Encarnacion helping the Rays in a couple of critical ways, he will be playing for the hated Yankees and darkening the Rays' prospects.
And Charlie Morton didn't hold up his end of the superhero movie script. He lost a game. His first this year--his first in 22 starts according to Martin Fennelly in the Tampa Bay Times today. They did get a two-run home run from Yandy Diaz, his 11th, but it wasn't enough to dig themselves out of a 4-0 deficit Morton had put them in. They managed all of six hits all day. Morton, Adam Kolarek, and newly recalled Jake Faria struck out a grand total of 12 batters, but it didn't matter when the Angel offense struck quickly and decisively to put the game away early.
To make room for Faria and his triple A ERA of 5.17, the Rays optioned Daniel Robertson and his .205 BA over 176 plate appearances. It doesn't look on the surface that there can be much improvement with this move. Spinning wheels is more like it. Fans are waiting for something more dramatic. Maybe that would put more bodies in the seats than desperate promotions.
Today's finale against the Angels will pit opener Ryne Stanek and Bulkster Jalen Beeks against Griffin Canning (2-2)
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