Bolts on brink of elimination after loss

April 26, 2024 general

Friday, 3 a.m. From here, you can see the darkness. From here, you can hear the silence of an empty arena. You can imagine the fans who may not have much left to cheer about. You can see the rocks below. From here, the Tampa Bay Lightning can see the off-season. The Bolts are down […]

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Mead’s home run leads Rays to victory

April 25, 2024 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. The last thing you might expect from the Tampa Bay Rays is the guy from down under to go up and over. Curtis Mead, hardly a fence-buster, lifted the Rays to a 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers with a two-run homer in the sixth inning. It was Mead’s first home run […]

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Bolts fall behind 2-0 in series against Panthers

April 24, 2024 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. The moments when it got away are with them still. Carter Verehaeghe’s winning goal. The save by Sergie Bobrovskiy’s elbow. The four-minute power play where they didn’t score. They might as well look at those moments. It beats looking at their situation. Content beyond this point is for members only. Already a […]

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Rays’ bullpen blows another game

April 24, 2024 general

Wednesday, 3 a.m. Stop them if you’ve heard this before. The bullpen of the Tampa Bay Rays is still leaky. The Rays dropped a 4-2 game to Detroit — their fourth loss in five games — when, once again, their relief corps could not make a narrow lead hold up late. This time, the losing […]

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Tigers batter Rays behind Skubal

April 23, 2024 general

Tuesday, 4 a.m. The less said about this one, the better. The Tampa Bay Rays were clobbered Monday night, losing a 7-1 rout to the Detroit Tigers and pitcher Tarik Skubal. It was the team’s third loss in its last four games and sent them back to the .500 level at 12-12. The Rays could […]

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Bad innings dooms Rays against Yanks

April 22, 2024 general

Monday, 4 a.m. There are terrible places to forget how to play baseball. Standing on the mound at Yankee Stadium is one of them. Aaron Civale, in the middle of a pretty good pitching performance, had his control abandon him in the fifth inning of a 5-4 loss. Pitching in a 1-1 tie, Civale got […]

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Caballero’s double lifts Rays to victory

April 21, 2024 general

Sunday, 4 a.m. It was the kind of game that makes the Yankees’ beancounters pay attention. “We paid this….for that? Despite the highly paid lineup of the New York Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays slipped past the Yanks 2-0 in 10 innings Saturday afternoon. The Yankees managed only four hits — and no runs — […]

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Rays can’t hold on against Yankees

April 20, 2024 general

Saturday, 4 a.m. Perhaps the New York Yankees noticed something new about the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night. They can’t field. They can’t relieve. They can’t hit with runners in scoring position. Oh, and they can’t win. Content beyond this point is for members only. Already a member? To view the rest of this column, […]

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Pepiot shuts down Angels in victory

April 19, 2024 general

Friday, 4 a.m. A few more of these, and perhaps the fans of the Tampa Bay Rays won’t miss Tyler Glasnow quite so much. Ryan Pepiot, who came to the Rays in the Glasnow shed-his-salary trade, was masterful Thursday in a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Pepiot went six innings and gave up […]

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Fairbanks struggles as closer again

April 18, 2024 general

Thursday, 4 a.m. He cannot shut the door. He cannot turn out the lights. He cannot nail the coffin. Oh, the struggles of Pete Fairbanks continue. The Tampa Bay Rays, it seemed, had done it again. They had taken another lead on the bat of Amed Rosario — who hit a go-ahead two-run homer in […]

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