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The day he was officially named American League Rookie of the Month for the opening month of the 2019 season, Brandon Lowe went out and proved why that was such a good decision, blasting somehow blooping a home run over the right field fence in Kansas City to break a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth inning and ensure the Rays didn’t leave Kauffman with a series loss.
The Rays now head to Baltimore for what would appear to be a winnable series but considering the Rip Van Winkle-like nap the Rays bats appear to have fallen under, maybe we shouldn’t take anything for granted.
For the three-game weekend series, the only set matchup as of now is Friday’s Tyler Glasnow (5-0, 1.75/2.68/3.13 ERA/FIP/xFIP, 1.1 fWAR) vs. Dan Straily (1-1, 6.75/8.16/7.04, -0.3) pairing.
The Rays currently sit at 20-11, a .645 winning percentage that ranks in a tie for second in all of baseball. The O’s are at the other side of the standings, with an 11-21 record, a .344 winning percentage that ranks in a tie for second worst in all of baseball. Of course, that tie is with the Royals, who the Rays got lucky to split with.
Given the hard turn the schedule takes after this series (ARZ, NYY, MIA, NYY, LAD, CLE), this series looks like a must-win if the Rays want to maintain their edge in the division throughout the month of May.
Rays News
- Nansemond River High School’s Brandon Lowe named MLB’s American League Rookie of the Month — The local angle on the news.
- Rays Journal: Yet another win for Tyler Glasnow, as he’s named AL Pitcher of the Month — In addition to Lowe taking home RoM, Glasnow won PoM, not surprising that the Rays are well represented in the monthly awards given their blistering start.
- The Rays’ Latest Reclamation Project Has Been the Shock of the American League — Glasnow has been so elite that he even earned the bi-monthly Ringer baseball article...
- Game 32: Rays at Baltimore Orioles — Pregame News and Notes — RaysRadio preview of today’s affair.
- Marc Topkin’s takeaways from Rays 3-1 win over Royals — Pretty solidly self-explanatory title right there...
- Rays OF Tommy Pham inspired by visit to Negro League Museum — Finally, really cool article about a really cool player and a really cool place. Pham continues to be quite the interesting lad.
Tweet of the Day
Speaking of which:
How can I check on pitches called out of the Kzone for strikes on me?@enosarris
— Tommy Pham (@TphamLV) May 3, 2019
He totally knew what he was doing with this tweet... Well played, sir.