The Tampa Bay Rays have completed their first sweep of the season as they capped off a dramatic series with the Minnesota Twins in walkoff fashion, their second walkoff victory during the three game series.

C.J. Cron continued his hot hitting as he belted another home run, his third of the past two games, to kick off the scoring for Tampa Bay. Yonny Chirinos would allow Minnesota to tie the game over the next couple of frames.

Ryan Yabrough would allow a go-ahead run in the sixth to give the Twins a 3-2 lead, but the Rays quickly came back to tie the game bottom half of the frame. Adeiny Hechavarria would later add a three run blast to give the Rays a 6-3 advantage. Unfortunately, the Rays bullpen woes continued and the Twins would tie things up in the 8th inning.

It would all be naught though as Carlos Gomez launched a mighty two run walkoff blast in the ninth inning, emphatically rounding the bases for his first career walkoff HR to give the Rays a 8-6 victory and series sweep.

Rays Links

• Nathan Eovaldi is ahead of schedule in his recovery from elbow cleanup
• C.J. Cron blistered the ball this past weekend, with the aforementioned three home runs. The first two were hit to the exact same spot with a young fan becoming ecstatic after catching the second blast.
• Willy Adames was highlighted as one of the top minor league performers during yesterday’s action, hitting a Grand Slam for his first home run of the 2018 season

Around the League

• Former Rays RHP, Danny Faquhar is currently hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm during a game last week. The Rays players responded by hanging his Rays jersey in the dugout and writing his name on their caps.
• The Boston Red Sox were no-hit on Saturday by Sean Manaea, whom the Athletics acquired from the Kansas City Royals for Ben Zobrist, who the Athletics originally got from the Rays. So, one could say the Rays were very much involved in the Red Sox getting no-hit.
• Jose Bautista may soon join the Atlanta Braves as a third baseman

Trivia

Brandon Belt had a 21 pitch at-bat during the Giants game yesterday, the longest at-bat in modern MLB history.

So, which player in Rays history has worked the longest plate appearance in franchise history?

Hint: He was also the first player acquired via trade in team history