Griffin Jax, it turns out, wants to join in the fun.
Jax, the Rays' starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, was on a personal trail of tears. He had lost four of his last five games, giving up 19 runs.
Thursday night, in a 7-2 win over Atlanta, he returned. Jax threw five innings of two-hit baseball. He's now 7-11 on the year.
The Rays, who won the opener 7-1, have now outscored the Braves 14-3 in the series and have 21 hits.
Mesa Jr. has been hot./KIM HUKARI
The Rays jumped on Atlanta early, scoring three runs in the second inning and three in the third.
Victor Mesa Jr. has quietly become a major contributor for the Rays. He had a home run and a single and scored twice. Chandler Simpson also had two hits.
The Rays close out their series against the Braves today at 12:15 p.m. at Truist Field. Nick Martinez (14-4) will start against Martin Perez (8-9).
Peralta won his third straight game Tuesday night, shutting down the Atlanta Braves in a 7-1 win at Truist Park.
Peralta, whose struggles continued after he was acquired from the New York Mets, seems to have found new footing with the Rays. has given up just three runs and 12 hits in his last three games.
Peralta gave up three hits in the first inning, but only two thereafter. The bullpen threw three perfect innings in relief.
Caminero leads the league in homers./KIM HUKARI
Offensively, the Rays belted four home runs to lead its way to the win. Junior Caminero hit his 39th of the year in the first inning. He was followed with homers from Liam Hicks, Yandy Diaz and Richie Palacios.
Diaz, Caminero and Victor Mesa Jr. all had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays play the Braves tonight at 7:15 at Truist Field. Griffin Jax (6-10) will start for the Rays against Reynaldo Lopez (4-3).
At the worst time imaginable, there is smoke rising from the bullpen of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Once again, the Rays struggled to get Texas batters out, leading to an 8-6loss. In four games against the Rangers, the Rays gave up 23 runs. The bullpen gave up 10 of them.
The Rays had a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning, but couldn't hold on.
Part of the difficulties were on the part of starter Ian Seymour, who gave up two home runs to Jake Burger.
Simpson's two hits left him at .308./KIM HUKARI
The Rays built their lead with a four-run second. Victor Mesa Jr. singled in Chandler Simpson. Then Nick Fortes brought in a run with a sacrifice bunt to score Jorge Mateo. Yandy Diaz singled in Mesa Jr and Jonathan Aranda scored Fortes on a sacrifice fly. The Rays had four of their nine hits in the inning.
In the fourth inning, Junior Caminero brought in Diaz with a sacrifice fly.
Diaz, Aranda, Simpson and Jonny DeLuca all had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays are off today. They resume play Tuesday in Atlanta. Freddy Peralta (7-11) will start for the Rays against A.J. Smith-Shawyer (0-1).
The Texas Rangers couldn't wait to get to Jonathan Aranda.
Looking back, perhaps they would like to rethink that.
Aranda powered a three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning, leading the Rays to a 6-3 victory over the Texas Rangers. The Rays had led 3-1, but the Rangers came back to tie.
Then came the 10th. With Jorge Mateo at third, the Rangers chose to walk Yandy Diaz. Four pitches later, Aranda launched his 19th home run of the season. It was Aranda's fourth home run in his last 11 games.
The Rays got a quality start from Drew Rasmussen, who gave up just three hits and one earned run over seven innings. Kevin Kelly gave up two earned runs in one-third of an inning.
But Tyler Wells was solid in the ninth for the second straight night, winning his fourth game in six decisions.
Wells had another strong finish./KIM HUKARI
Earlier in the game, Junior Caminero hit his 38th homer of the year. Richie Palacios hit his eighth in the fifth inning. He now leads the American League.
Liam Hicks singled in a run in the eighth.
Aranda, Caminero, Hicks and Victor Mesa Jr. all had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays and Rangers wrap up their series today at 2:35 p.m. Tampa Bay's Ian Seymour (9-6) will face MacKenzie Gore (8-10).
Sunday, 3 a.m. Before you criticize, keep this in mind. A few months ago, they were strangers in shoulder pads. The quarterback didn’t know the receivers, who didn’t know the offensive linemen, who didn’t know the defensive backs, and so on. They were a roomful of mercenaries, brought in to form a team. So, yeah, […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. For once, Bryan Baker couldn’t slam shut the door. So Tyler Wells gave him a push. Baker, the top closer in the American League, came into the game seeking his 40th save as the Tampa Bay Rays led Texas, 7-5. But Baker, fighting illness, walked the first two batters he faced, and […]
Friday, 4 a.m. There are days you feel good about their chances. They will play well, or their opposition will play poorly, and you think that the Rays will be okay in their chase toward the American League East title. And then there are days like Thursday. Days when the offense dries up and the […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. Days like this aren’t supposed to happen in the middle of a pennant race. The Tampa Bay Rays were smothered Wednesday night, getting blown out 10-4 by the New York Mets at Tropicana Field. The Mets are the last-place team in the NL East. The Mets scored three runs in three different […]
Wednesday, 4 a.m. Suddenly, Freddy Peralta is a star again. At least, he is shining a lot more often. Peralta pitched his second straight strong game in a 6-2 victory over the New York Mets Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. After giving up a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor, Peralta rebounded to throw six […]
Tuesday, 4 a.m. The trouble with come-from-behind victories is this: You can’t count on them all the time. After two straight days of comeback victories , the Rays fell just short Monday night in a 3-2 loss to the New York Mets at Tropicana Field. The Rays had won six of seven games before losing […]
Gary Shelton Sports is a subscription site. The following options are available:
• Buy a season ticket ($4 a month).
• Splurge on a club seat ($24 a year).
• Or go all in with a skybox ($54 for three years, which is only $1.50 a month).
About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
