Tampa Bay Rays head into All-Star break hot with series wins over Yankees, Guardians

With the win on Sunday over the Cleveland Guardians, the Tampa Bay Rays will head into the All-Star break sitting right at .500 with a 48-48 record. The bigger picture lies in what Tampa Bay has done recently. They are winners of seven of their last eight series, and the recent two series wins have come against two of baseball's best teams.

The Rays began this two-series stretch at Tropicana Field against the New York Yankees last Tuesday. In their two wins against New York, they got needed power out of Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes, who homered during the series. Yandy Diaz also tacked a hit on in each game, staying active within Tampa Bay's offense.

Across all three games against the Yankees, the Rays' pitching was stellar on all fronts. Ryan Pepiot, Zach Eflin, and Shane Baz combined for 18 strikeouts and just five earned runs during the New York series. The same held true for the bullpen, which gave up three earned runs across the three games, while closer Pete Fairbanks had two saves.

Tampa Bay Rays took recent momentum into Yankees, Guardians showdowns

It was a similar story in Tampa Bay's recent series with the Guardians. Their pitching was the anchor that led them to two wins in low-scoring duels. Taj Bradley was big in the first game with eight strikeouts, no walks, and no earned runs in seven innings of work. Pepiot picked up from his start against the Yankees and delivered a great Sunday performance, giving up just two hits and no earned runs to Cleveland in six innings. Zack Littell was also stingy in the game the Rays lost, as he gave up just one earned run in his six-inning outing.

The offense came up big in certain spots as well against the Guardians, with Jose Siri and Brandon Lowe hitting solo home runs on Sunday. Catcher Alex Jackson, who has struggled this season, was huge in Friday night's win, as he was responsible for the two runs Tampa Bay had.

These two series wins showed that Tampa Bay is capable of competing with the best of the best in major league baseball, as they just went 4-2 heading into the All-Star break against two of the top teams in the American League. As the team gets healthier, this is exactly the momentum the Rays needed heading into the second half.