Exclusive Rays coverage by Gary Shelton Sports

Adames leads the Rays to a walk-off victory

September 21, 2019 general

Saturday, 4 a.m. Tommy Pham has the stare. Charlie Morton has the arm. Austin Meadows has the wrists. And Willy Adames? He has the heart. Adames, who just turned 24, slammed a pitch into left field late Friday night, giving his Rays a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over Boston to stay in the AL Wild Card […]

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Alvarado Experiment Blows Up for the Rays

August 25, 2019 general

Sunday, 4 a.m. Forget about whether Jose Alvarado can save a game. At this point, you have to ask if he can save his career. Alvarado, the one-time closer of the Tampa Bay Rays, blew up early Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Alvarado, in a three-month funk, was a disaster in […]

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Meadows Sends Rays off to Easy Win over Baltimore

August 24, 2019 general

Saturday, 3 a.m. He is brand new, fresh off the shelf, and there are a great many things that Trevor Richard  does not know about the Tampa Bay Rays. He does know this, however. He kind of likes this Austin Meadows kid. Meadows hit a second-inning grand slam and put the Rays ahead 7-0 early […]

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Adames, the road warrior, leads Rays once again

August 23, 2019 general

Friday, 4 a.m. Maybe he just likes airplane rides. Maybe he likes museum tours, or seeing opposing baseball parks. Maybe he likes popcorn on the road. Maybe he loves suitcases. Maybe he hates the hot dogs at the Trop. Whatever it is, Willy Adames is a traveling man. Adames overcame two early errors Thursday night […]

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Rays walk from behind to beat Seattle

August 22, 2019 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. They were up. They were down. They blew it. They battled back to win it. They were terrible. And they were terrific. The Tampa Bay Rays were about to lose their third straight game to the bottom-crawling Seattle Mariners Wednesday afternoon. Instead, they won their third walkoff game in five games, winning […]

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Rays’ pitching falters in another loss

August 21, 2019 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. Boy, do the Rays miss their pitchers. Blake Snell? The team misses you. Tyler Glassnow? The light is still on. Yonny Chirinos? Please come home. Hoo-boy, could this team use any of them. The Rays lost to the last-place Seattle Mariners for the second straight day Tuesday. The Mariners scored seven runs, […]

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McKay struggles as the Mariners bomb Rays

August 20, 2019 general

Tuesday, 4 a.m. Quick. Someone stop Brendan McKay’s backslide. For goodness sakes, the kid is getting worse. McKay struggled once again Monday night, lasting only two innings and giving up seven runs (only three earned) in a 9-3 loss to the last-place Seattle Mariners. McKay gave up three hits and walked three, meaning that in […]

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Brosseau finally rewards Rays’ pitchers

August 18, 2019 general

Sunday, 3 a.m. Mike Brosseau is the kid from nowhere, a flinty ballplayer who will surprise you with his bat. Eric Sogard lives two houses down from Brosseau in nowhere, a scrappy ballplayer who will surprise you with his moments. Together, they brought the Tampa Bay Rays back from the border to nowhere, combining for […]

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For the Rays, Home is for Horrors

August 17, 2019 general

Saturday, 3 a.m. They’re home again. And maybe, just maybe, those beds are too comfortable. There is something about playing at home that makes most teams a little better. Not so with the Tampa Bay Rays, who continued to struggle at Tropicana Field with a 2-0 loss to Detroit. Content beyond this point is for […]

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Rays’ rotation finally catches up to them

August 15, 2019 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. Winning nine road games in a row ins’t easy. As beaten up as the Rays’ starting rotation is, it’s even more rare. The rotation — missing Blake Snell, missing Tyer Glasnow, missing Yonny Chirinos — finally caught up with the Rays Wednesday in San Diego as Jalen Beeks struggled in a 7-2 […]

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