Friday, 4 a.m.
Here's the trade proposal.
Your team is playing a division rival a four-game series. In this second game, it is embarrassed. It is beaten senseless, by a franchise-record worst 19 runs. Some people are still laughing about that one.
Ah, but your team wins the other three games.
Do you take the trade?
Of course you do.
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The Rays won their series against the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday. This time, it was 6-3, meaning that in the games the Rays didn't allow 20 runs, they scored 19. Most teams would take winning three of four without a second thought.
This time, it was Zach Eflin who paced the Rays, throwing seven innings of six-hit, one-run baseball; to up his record to 7-1 on the season even though he had no strikeouts. Jays' starter Alek Manoah fell to 1-6.
The Rays didn't hit much. They got only five hits -- two of them by Randy Arozarena, who drove in two runs. But six walks and seven steals helped Tampa Bay build a 5-1 lead.
The seven steals were a franchise record.
"We took advantage," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "We got some good jumps and manufactured some runs today. Sometimes you’ve got to push it a little."
If there is a concern for the Rays, it is the closing innings. In four games, Toronto scored 13 runs in the ninth (padded by nine runs against position players) and three in the eighth.
Still, the Rays were good enough to pad their record to 37-15.
Tampa Bay now is host to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rays have not announced their starter, but the Dodgers will start Noah Syndergaard.
