CLEVELAND – The postponement of Game 4 from Friday to Saturday night altered the dynamics around pitcher usage in the American League Championship Series, although to whose benefit wasn’t immediately clear.
Heading into a bullpen day for Take 2 of the hinge contest, the extra day of rest for taxed relievers opened more possibilities for the Cleveland Guardians, at least in the short term. Sure enough, even as they stuck with Shawn Armstrong as their opener, Game 1 starter Foster Griffin came on to throw bulk right behind him, an option not necessarily in play if not for the rainout.
But the unexpected break gave the Tampa Bay Rays a chance to be creative, too, which led to Game 2 star Freddy Peralta, on his side day, being called on to face the top of the lineup and extinguish a sixth-inning rally versus starter Nick Martinez, which he did.
The right-hander’s nine pitches and two outs preserved a 2-1 lead, which the Rays then padded with a three-spot in the seventh and rode to a 7-3 victory that evened the best-of-seven at two games apiece.
Tampa Bay's starter for Game 5 Sunday evening will be ace Drew Rasmussen while the Cleveland Guardians will turn to all-star Parker Messick on regular rest.
The uncertainty of Cleveland's rotation beyond Messick and Gavin Williams highlights why the Rays may be better positioned on the pitching front the longer this series goes, as so far in the post-season, 61 per cent of their innings have been covered by their rotation, compared to 41 per cent for the Guardians.
While Cleveland’s relievers have without a doubt been more effective than Tampa Bay’s to this point, the heavier toll on them and Rays hitters’ growing familiarity with them may very well become a growing factor in the games ahead.
That may have already come into play in the sixth, when the Rays pushed across the go-ahead run against Daniel Espino to the chagrin of 33,355 at Progressive Field.
Facing the top of the lineup for the third time in the series after dominant outings in Games 1 and 3, the right-hander struck out Yandy Diaz to end the fifth, but then issued consecutive walks to Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson to begin the sixth. Junior Caminero then laced a double at 110.2 m.p.h. into the left-field corner to score Aranda and open up a 2-1 lead.
Some clever relief work from Tim Herrin held the damage there despite runners at second and third with none out. But after Peralta got Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter on flyouts around a Jose Ramirez walk to escape the sixth, Aranda’s single off Slade Cecconi, compounded by DeLauter’s fielding error in right field, scored a pair before Simpson’s sacrifice fly made it a 5-1 game.
The pesky Guardians didn’t relent and underlined the potential soft spot the Tampa Bay bullpen might be with a two-spot in the seventh, as Travis Bazzana took Ian Seymour deep and Brayan Rocchio added an RBI single before Kwan grounded out to end the threat.
Diaz restored the extra margin in the ninth with an opposite-field, two-run shot that made it 7-3 and all-star closer Bryan Baker then handled the ninth.
The Rays had wanted to push through Friday’s weather and were willing to grind through some stops and starts as bands of rain kept passing through. The Guardians were less keen to do that, but it didn’t really matter as even with an hour of prep work, puddles remained all over the warning track and the field wasn’t really playable, forcing Major League Baseball to push the game back.
So they waited, the Rays responded and the ALCS is now down to a best-of-three. And with no off-days between the remaining games, attrition is now a major factor in deciding who will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series.
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