The Rays made a flurry of moves this afternoon following a weekend series in Toronto, reinstating left-hander Brooks Raley and right-hander Ryan Thompson from the restricted list and returning righties Phoenix Sanders and Javy Guerra to Triple-A Durham. Raley and Thompson were not allowed to enter Canada due to their vaccination status but will rejoin the team for tonight’s opener of a three-game series in Boston.
The team also recalled left-hander Josh Fleming and optioned right-hander Cristofer Ogando to clear a spot on the active roster. To make room on the 40-man roster for the recently selected Ogando, the Rays transferred J.P. Feyereisen to the 60-day IL. The move pushes the return of the high-leverage righty — who’d logged 24 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run before hitting the IL in early June — to early August at soonest.
The return of Raley and Thompson will come as something of a relief to a bullpen that covered 17 innings over the course of winning three of four in Toronto, including three innings by Sanders, one by Guerra, and two by Ogando (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, manager Kevin Cash even joked that Raley and Thompson might go a combined 9 innings in their return). While Thompson has struggled to a 5.33 ERA (4.62 FIP) across 25 1/3 innings so far this season, the 34-year-old Raley has been something of a revelation in 2022, posting a sparkling 2.22 ERA (2.09 FIP) behind an elevated strikeout rate (31.7% against 27.2% for his career) and improved walk rate (7.9% against 8.6%).
Great last 3 games to win the series against the Blue Jays!
Not a split, Rays won the series.
On an unrelated note how does MLB not have every team playing on the Fourth of July. The same said for Memorial Day. They legitimately can own these 3 holidays (including Labor Day) and yet do nothing about it. No Phillies or Yankees today and I don’t remember the other two that are not playing. But shame on MLB no wonder the sport is dying
They used to have doubleheaders on those days. But the schedule is tougher to put together now with more teams, more divisions and interleague play, more CBA restrictions, and owners less willing to give two games for the price of one.
Yankees could’ve played in Pittsburgh this afternoon but the Buccos were off as well. Angels are off because they’re flying cross-country to start a road trip at Miami.
Rays won the series, 3 games to 2 of a 5 game set fwiw