The Tampa Bay Rays continued a busy trading day on Thursday when they acquired veteran first baseman Lucas Duda from the New York Mets. In return, the Mets received minor league reliever Drew Smith from the Rays. Duda provides another left-handed power hitter to the Rays’ lineup. He has stroked 17 home runs this season in 75 games, and has 125 home runs during his 8-year major league career, all with the Mets.
The Rays begin a difficult 8-games-in-8 days road trip against the Yankees tonight, minus one starter, but head to New York and Houston with a stronger bullpen. After losing 5 straight games, they leave home as winners of their last two. On Thursday, Tampa Bay acquired left-handed reliever Dan Jennings from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for former first round pick Casey Gillaspie. Jennings fills the void of a dependable lefty in the bullpen. Last week, the Rays acquired…
When the time comes to look back on the 2017 season, the Tampa Bay Rays should remember June as a month filled with missed opportunities. While they can still make some noise in the second half of the season, they missed a good chance to establish themselves as a bona fide contender for a playoff spot. Heading into June, Tampa Bay had every reason to be optimistic. They finished May with a winning record, including a 10-4 mark on the…
The late Pete Rozelle was known to strive for “parity” during his days as NFL Commissioner. Perhaps the first 26 games of the Buccaneers’ franchise, when they went 0-26, influenced his mindset. Rozelle and the NFL tweaked schedules to help more teams reach 8-8 and make it harder for teams to regularly go 14-2. While the elite teams mostly remained elite for a reason, the end result saw most teams in the playoff hunt as the seasons reached their final…
Derek Norris homered in consecutive innings and Jake Odorizzi pitched into the seventh on Thursday night, leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Peter Bourjos and Colby Rasmus also homered for the Rays. The White Sox, who have lost seven of eight, came back from a 6-0 deficit with the help of home runs by Avisail Garcia and Todd Frazier. They got the potential tying run to third base with one out in…
Jacob Faria took a three-hitter into the seventh inning of his major league debut for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old right-hander walked two and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings, settling down after falling behind three batters into the game to help Tampa Bay end a season-high four-game losing streak before a crowd of just 9,313. Relievers Tommy Hunter, Jose Alvarado and Alex Colome finished the combined four-hitter,…
Avisail Garcia, Volmer Sanchez and Todd Frazier homered, helping the Chicago White Sox stop a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Chris Beck (1-0) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to get the victory in relief of Jose Quintana, who avoided becoming the first pitcher in the major leagues to lose eight games this season. Garcia led off the seventh with a solo homer, snapping a 1-1 tie against…