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“Sunburst Awards” is a series-by-series evaluation of player performance, where four different awards are given out after each series: Offensive player of the series, defensive player of the series, pitcher of the series, and highlight play of the series. This edition will be covering the 18th series of the season, where the Tampa Bay Rays took on the Oakland Athletics from May 28 through May 30, a three game series at Tropicana Field.

Can we please get some offense this series?

Game 1: Rays – 0 Athletics – 3 (recap)

Game 2: Rays – 4 Athletics – 3 (recap)

Game 3: Rays – 6 Athletics – 5 (recap)

Offensive Sunburst Award: Jose Siri

Siri had a masterful final two days at the plate, with multiple clutch at bats in critical moments to help his team pull through for a series win.

Walk-offs, game-tying bombs, Siri did everything you could ask in the final two games that helped the offense overlook an embarrassing 3-0 shutout in game one.

At the end of it all, Siri finished the series with four hits, a walk, two runs, and three RBI in two games vs the Athletics.

Pitching Sunburst Award: Zack Littell

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

Littell may have earned a loss for his performance in game one, but he put up a great performance on the mound, going seven innings allowing zero earned runs while striking out nine batters.

The bearded right-hander has lowered his ERA to 3.03 so far in 2024, and now stands just eleven strikeouts away from number 300 in his career.

Defensive Sunburst Award: Jose Siri

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

Jose Siri’s incredible game-saving grab in the ninth inning of game two only adds to his impressive resume over the last two days.

With the game tied and a runner on, it looked for a moment that the Rays were going to have to work some heroics in the bottom of the ninth to even tie the game. Until, Siri came leaping up and grabbed the ball, robbing it from leaving the park and keeping the game tied.

With this Sunburst, Siri now has eight on the season, making him the leader amongst all Rays players this season.

Highlight Sunburst Award: Richie Palacios

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

With all the talk of Siri saving the day with home runs and walk offs, it’s almost hard to forget the OTHER walk-off the Rays had in game three of the series, when Palacios one-hopped the right field wall to win the game and the series for the Rays.

The fan-favorite goggle-wearing phenom has potentially sparked a Rays team that desperately needed some energy with their second walk-off win in a row to put them one game away from .500.

Conlusion

With the Rays series win they now sit at 28-29 on the season, just one game away from being back at .500, although they have maybe their toughest stretch of baseball yet in the month of June.

The Rays follow up this exciting battle with the As with a three game road series against the defending AL East Champion Baltimore Orioles. First pitch at Camden Yards is set for 7:05 on Friday.