Ohtani’s slam tames Rays in L.A.

August 24, 2024 general

Saturday, 4 a.m. Perhaps no one on the Rays is paid enough to get Shohei Ohtani out in a crucial situation. Certainly, Colin Poche was not up to the task in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ohtani hammered Poche’s first pitch over the right field wall for a game-winning, walkoff grand slam. It was […]

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Bucs finish preseason with victory

August 24, 2024 general

Saturday, 3 a.m. The Tampa Bay Bucs finally took their starters out of storage this preseason Friday night. And, yeah, they looked pretty good in small doses. But did they see enough action? Content beyond this point is for members only. Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the […]

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Rays bats remain quiet in defeat

August 23, 2024 general

Friday, 4 a.m. Remember those glory days of last week. You know, back before the Rays’ bats got sick again. The Rays lost a 3-1 game to the Oakland A’s Thursday, and frankly, the team was lucky to get a split of its four-game series. While the pitching was sharp, the bats once again turned […]

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Siri does it again with home run

August 22, 2024 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. Ditto. Yep, the Tampa Bay Rays liked their previous day’s victory over the Oakland A’s so much, they repeated it on Wednesday night. Once again, they had solid pitching. Once again, they didn’t hit a lot. And once again, Jose Siri showed up when it counted. Siri, who had been on an […]

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Rays’ Siri goes deep, Baz finally wins

August 21, 2024 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. If you were holding out for a hero, his was perhaps the last name you would guess. Jose Siri, benched and belittled in recent days, hit an eighth-inning home run with two out to lift the Rays to a 1-0 victory over the Oakland A’s. Siri hadn’t had a hit in eight […]

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Rays offer little resistance in loss

August 20, 2024 general

Tuesday, 4 a.m. Who forgot to pack the bats for this West Coast trip. The Tampa Bay Rays, fresh off a sweep of Arizona that featured a potent offense, offered up little opposition in a 3-0 loss to the Oakland A’s. The Rays had just two hits — one of ythem a bloop — off […]

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Rays win, but lose closer Fairbanks

August 19, 2024 general

Monday, 4 a.m. Even in the fireworks of the moment, even after a newly achieved sweep of a good opponent, there was a dark cloud over the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday evening. Had they broken reliever Pete Fairbanks? Fairbanks, the Rays’ usually reliable closer, blew his second straight save opportunity and was injured in a […]

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Bucs’ backups play like, well, backups

August 18, 2024 general

Sunday, 4 a.m. Bad news for the Tampa Bay Bucs. This season, they’re going to face a lot of quarterbacks who are better than Mac Jones. Jones threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns to lead Jacksonville’s backups to a 21-7 victory over Tampa Bay’s backups Saturday night. In all, the Jags kept the ball […]

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Rays’ offense shows up in victory

August 18, 2024 general

Sunday, 3 a.m. Who are those guys? Certainly, they can’t be the Tampa Bay Rays, those guys with matchsticks for baseball bats. Saturday, the Rays pounded out 13 hits in a 6-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. They also stole four bases — including Josh Lowe’s steal of home — to win their second straight […]

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Breaks go Rays’ way in win over Arizona

August 17, 2024 general

Saturday, 4 a.m. Maybe the Tampa Bay Rays had a break coming. Maybe two. Things finally went right for the sliding Rays Friday night in a 5-4 victory over ,the red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks. Put it this way: the team was low before Lowe and Lowe helped the team’s rally. Content beyond this point is for […]

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