By By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
ATLANTA — The Tampa Bay Rays left Texas with a split, the same four-game lead in the American League East and two very different September storylines.
Jonathan Aranda looks ready for the moment.
The Rays’ pitching staff looks increasingly fragile.
They went 2-2 against the Rangers and enter Tuesday night’s series opener in Atlanta with an 85-58 record.
The Rays lost Sunday’s finale 8-6 after building a 5-1 lead, but the New York Yankees also lost, leaving the Rays four games ahead with 19 remaining.
There is value in surviving a difficult road series without surrendering anything in the standings.
But there was also enough in Texas to remind us that this division race is not over, and that the Rays’ biggest September concern extends beyond the bullpen.
First, the best development of the weekend: Aranda.
We highlighted him throughout the series, and he keeps giving us reasons to do it. Aranda homered in both Rays victories, collected two more hits Sunday, and drove in six runs during the four-game set.
He arrives in Atlanta batting .279 with 19 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .793 OPS.
In Friday night’s 7-6 victory, Aranda tied the game with a 411-foot solo home run in the third inning and added an RBI double in the fifth.
Tampa Bay’s win ended a 10-game road losing streak against Texas.
Saturday brought an even bigger swing. The game was tied 3-3 in the 10th when the Rangers intentionally walked Yandy Díaz to face Aranda.
With two strikes, Aranda drove a slider over the right-field wall for a three-run homer and a 6-3 victory.
Texas chose the matchup. Aranda won it.
That is the kind of at-bat that matters in September and becomes even more valuable in October.
Opposing managers will spend the postseason trying to gain favorable matchups. Aranda showed that putting him in the middle of one can come with a price.
He did not stop producing Sunday. Aranda had two more hits and a sacrifice fly for his sixth RBI of the series. Chandler Simpson, Yandy Díaz and Jonny DeLuca also had two hits as the Rays scored six times.
It should have been enough.
Starter Ian Seymour lasted only three-plus innings, allowing four runs, three earned, and Texas erased a 5-1 deficit.
Jake Burger homered twice, Corey Seager added another homer, and the Rangers scored six consecutive runs before the Rays briefly pulled within one.
The loss completed a strange weekend. The Rays were shut out 6-0 Thursday, then scored 19 runs over the final three games.
The Rays nearly wasted a 6-1 lead Friday, lost a 3-1 lead Saturday before Aranda rescued them in extra innings, and let a 5-1 advantage disappear Sunday.
The concern is bigger than the bullpen
The bullpen has posted a 5.87 ERA over the past six games. That is not good enough, and the recent blown leads cannot be dismissed.
But this is no longer only a bullpen story.
Shane McClanahan is on the 15-day injured list with left forearm tightness. Left-hander Garrett Cleavinger and right-hander Manuel Rodríguez are also on the IL, stripping two more important options from manager Kevin Cash’s bullpen.
The Rays recalled right-hander Alex Cook from Triple-A Durham when McClanahan was placed on the injured list.
McClanahan is 10-7 with a 3.36 ERA in 24 starts and 118 innings.
Ordinarily, a short September shutdown might sound precautionary. With McClanahan, every forearm update matters.
He missed the previous two seasons because of arm injuries and underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August 2023.
“Anytime a guy talks about his arm, we’re going to do right by him,” Cash said. “Shane’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m hoping that with a couple of days down, let the doctors talk, and rest, we’re in a good spot soon.”
McClanahan called the issue “a little tightness, maybe fatigue” and explained why the Rays moved quickly.
“As of last night, we made the decision as a team to not let this compound, not let this snowball and kind of try to nip it in the bud quick,” he said.
McClanahan has not completed six innings in seven consecutive starts and has a 4.78 ERA during that stretch.
Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, Griffin Jax and Seymour have either passed or approached career highs in major-league innings as starters.
Cash has always been skilled at finding innings and manipulating matchups. But this is a different challenge.
He must cover McClanahan’s starts, replace Cleavinger and Rodríguez in the middle innings, and protect the remaining starters from exhaustion—all while trying to finish off a division title.
Atlanta offers an October-style test
The schedule offers no soft landing.
The Rays open a three-game series Tuesday at Truist Park against an Atlanta club that also entered Monday at 85-58 and owns one of baseball’s best home records.
The Braves were 48-24 at home before completing their Monday series in Philadelphia and had won seven of their previous 10.
Atlanta brings a lineup that will immediately test the Rays’ pitching depth.
Matt Olson has 37 home runs, and Ronald Acuña Jr. delivered a game-tying three-run homer Sunday in Philadelphia.
Michael Harris II entered the week batting .291, while Austin Riley produced the go-ahead triple in Atlanta’s 5-4 comeback win Sunday.
Freddy Peralta gets the ball Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. He is 7-11 with a 4.96 ERA overall, but those season numbers do not reflect how well he has pitched lately. Peralta has allowed one run in his past 14 innings. In his last start, he held the Mets to one run and three hits over six innings, struck out seven and retired 17 of the final 18 hitters he faced.
That is the Peralta the Rays traded for, and it is the pitcher they need now.
Griffin Jax is scheduled to start Wednesday, with Nick Martinez lined up for Thursday afternoon.
Martinez is 14-4 with a 3.04 ERA, while Jax enters at 6-10 with a 3.82 ERA.
Three things matter most in Atlanta: the starters must work deep enough to protect the bullpen, the Rays must keep traffic off the bases ahead of Olson and Acuña, and Aranda must stay hot against a dangerous Braves club.
The Texas split was acceptable because the Yankees failed to gain ground. The way the Rays reached that split was less comforting.
The Rays still have the division lead. They still have the AL’s best record. They also have 19 games to determine whether their pitching staff can reach October as a unit.
Aranda looks ready for that challenge.
Beginning Tuesday night in Atlanta, the rest of the Rays must show they are, too.
