We will go back to what we said after Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, It was never going to be easy.
Tampa Bay was the best team in the AL during the regular season. They are a good team, a very good team. Now it’s a best of three series with the Rays having the last two games in Florida.
After holding Tampa’s bats at bay in the first three games, they scored just 8 runs in that trio, Kevin Cash’s crew got their big boys going. Yandy Diaz started a rally in the third, scored their first run, and then capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the 9th.
Jonathan Aranda got the hit to deliver Diaz, and delivered another big hit, with the aid of Chase DeLauter’s error to score two more runs, part of a three-hit night for him.
And Junior Caminero broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th with a ringing double. The trio delivered six hits, Tampa had 11 and knocked in five of the seven tallies.
Steven Vogt left himself open to a lot of second guessing (not here, we thought it at the time) the way he used his pitchers after Shawn Armstrong opened the game putting up a scoreless first.
Foster Griffin pitched 3.2 innings and allowed one run but was removed with two outs and no one on in the fifth because he wanted Daniel Espino to face Yandy Diaz. Diaz fanned, but Vogt left Espino on to start the 6th with a pair of left-handed hitters due in Aranda and Chandler Simpson.
Espino walked both of them and then gave up the double to Caminero to give the visitors the lead.
Why not just leave Griffin in? He was pitching well, and if you wanted Espino for Diaz, why not bring in Tim Herrin to start the sixth?
Later, we saw Matt Festa’s playoff debut, and he got three outs, but with the score being 5-3 heading into the top of the ninth, we weren’t confident with him getting three more. He didn’t, allowing the homer to Diaz that salted the game away.
While the Rays got their big bats going, the top five hitters for Cleveland went 3 for 19 and after hits by Kwan and DeLauter in the first, the Guardians didn’t get another hit until Travis Bazzana went yard in the 7th.
Nick Martinez pitched 13 scoreless innings against the Guardians in the regular season, and he baffled them again, allowing just the one run in 5.1 frames.
So, we would guess the Rays will use game one starter Drew Rasmussen tonight and he was very good in both the regular season and his two playoff starts. Again, it won’t be an easy task.
Remember, after the 7 runs scored in the first game, the Guardians have managed just 7 runs themselves in the last three contests. They will need to figure out a way to put some offense together along with the pitching doing better.
We will guess Vogt will go with Parker Messick tonight and some good news for the relief corps is with the rainout on Friday, Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski, and Hunter Gaddis all have had two straight days off. That would seem to shorten the game considerably.
But we will also point out we are still worried about Messick, who hasn’t been as sharp in his last few starts, probably due to fatigue.
Have to lost confidence? No, but again, Cash has good pitchers at his disposal too. And the Guardians don’t want to have to win two more elimination games on the road again.
