The funniest, and for Rays fans only fun part of this game came in the first inning.
The Houston starter was Yusei Kikuchi, who joined the Astros at the trade deadline, seen by the baseball world as the sign that the Astros were “all in” (or sort of all in) on competing for a Wild Card slot this year.
And the the hitter, with one man already on base, was Dylan Carlson, who somehow ended up on the Rays after the swirl of trade deadline activity, seen by the baseball world as one of many signs that the Rays were not trying to compete this year.