Record: 62-48
Attendance: 33,046
After a flurry of trades right up to the 4:00 PM deadline, the Rays went out and beat the Red Sox 8-5, thus taking the first two of the three-game set--and now with the potential to complete a rare sweep of Boston at Fenway Park..
The Rays jumped out to a 5-1 lead after two innings. The big blows were HRs, a solo shot by Kevin Kiermaier and a three-run shot by Austin Meadows. Willy Adames added another solo blow in the sixth. All those runs were charged to Boston starter and former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello. In the seventh, Kiermaier tripled in a run and Matt Duffy singled in the last run.
The Rays opener Andrew Kittredge went two and a third and gave up a run. He was followed by bulk man Ryan Yarbrough, who gave up solo homers to J. D. Martinez and Michael Chavis in four-plus innings, good enough to win the game and improve his record to 10-3. Castillo and Poche, neither of whom gave up a run, came next, and the game was surprisingly closed by Chaz Roe, who gave up a hit and a walk before getting the last out and earning his first save.
Bottom line: The Rays took two in a row from the Red Sox and may take all three with a victory tomorrow. And that's after the Bosox tore the Yankees apart in the last series they played. Pretty impressive.
The Rays are buyers at the trade deadline.
They got their long-sought, hard-hitting, right-handed bat in Jesus Aguilar from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for relief pitcher Jake Faria. Though Aguilar's numbers began low this year before beginning to heat up in July, he hit 35 HRs last year and will platoon with Ji-Man Choi at 1B and DH. Talented rookie 1B Nate Lowe was reassigned to Durham, the odd man out. For the moment. He'll be back.
They also got their late-inning relief specialist, who will not be given the official designation of "closer," in a trade with the Miami Dolphins. He came with pitcher Trevor Richards, who will be sent to Durham to get himself physically and mentally prepared to be an opener and bulk man in the near future. For these two, the Rays gave up Ryne Stanek, a valuable opener (but terrible closer) and prized minor league OF Jesus Sanchez, a top fifty MLB-ranked talent. Give the Rays credit, they gave up a good prospect for their long-term future in order to put a real effort into winning this year. The front office went out of character this time, a thrilling gesture to Rays' everywhere.
There was also a flurry of other moves. They dealt Adam Kolarek to the Dodgers in exchange for a low level minor league OF, Niko Hulsizer. There were two other low level deals with the Dodgers and Giants.
The changes are all good and have the potential to get the Rays to the playoffs, but it remains to be seen what impact Aguilar and Anderson will have on the remaining games this summer. This is what a pennant race is supposed to look like!
No comments:
Post a Comment