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.
“He saved me,” said Martinez. “He saved our game today.”
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.
Crucially for the AL East champions, the Big 3 of Yandy Diaz (two-run homer, double), Jonathan Aranda (three hits, two RBIs) and Junior Caminero (go-ahead RBI double) got going after reaching base only six times in the first three games. From the bottom of the lineup, Richie Palacios delivered three hits and, along with Taylor Walls, pulled off a double steal that ignited the crucial late rally.
Rays ace Drew Rasmussen starts in Game 5 Sunday against all-star Parker Messick, who was originally slated to get an extra day of rest, but with “the amount of pitching that we needed to use, we need Parker to go for us,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.
The winner will be in position to clinch the series in Game 6 Monday back at Tropicana Field, when the starters are TBD but Peralta and Gavin Williams are on turn. Griffin Jax is lined up for Tampa if a Game 7 is needed, while Cleveland might be looking at another bullpen game.
The coverage scramble highlights why the Rays might be better positioned on the pitching front the longer this series goes, as so far this post-season, 61 per cent of their innings have been covered by their rotation, compared to 41 per cent for the Guardians.
“We have some guys that can set the tone, starting with Drew,” said Martinez, who allowed one run on two hits and two walks in 5.1 innings. “ And you can go down the list with Freddy and Jax and myself. I think we have a lot of confidence in our preparation and in the work we do … and our catchers and believing in our defence.”
Added Rasmussen: “That's something we take pride in.”
While Cleveland’s relievers have without a doubt been more effective than Tampa Bay’s to this point, Saturday aside, their heavier toll and the Rays hitters’ growing familiarity with them may turn into a growing factor in the games ahead.
That may have already come into play in the sixth Saturday, 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 Diaz to end the fifth, but then issued consecutive walks to Aranda and Chandler Simpson to begin the next inning. Caminero then laced a double at 110.2 m.p.h. into the left-field corner to score Aranda – who in the third inning ended an 0-for-11 slide in the series with an RBI single – and open up a 2-1 lead.
“A lot of really good at-bats. A lot of hard hits,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his lineup trio.
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 bottom six, 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.
Peralta, Cash said, “was available (Friday), as well. Just kind of gave him the heads up, sixth inning tighter lead, you're definitely in play. He was all eager to come in and do it. Then showed why. I mean, a lot of power. Got huge outs for us.”
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 bottom half.
“Everything is magnified in the post-season – the big hits, the big decisions, the big plays that go your way or against you,” said Cash. “When you’ve got two teams that are really talented, like we feel both of us are, one play can swing a lot. We want to continue to put pressure on the defence and trust that our defence is going to continue to make plays.”
The Rays certainly did that in Game 4.
They 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.
Martinez, who said he “gets antsy” on the days he starts, “was dialled up, was ready to go,” when the game was postponed. “First I was hearing it would be a short delay. I had to get ready for possibly an 8:30 or 8:40 start. Then I was ready to go by 8:40ish, I was ready to play catch outside, then it got pushed to nine. (The rainout) honestly helped me, because after you get going, you get the body going that much, the central nervous system is fired up, you're jacked up, then to sit for 30 minutes – I think my legs would have been heavy if we started that game at like nine or 10. As soon as it was cancelled, it was, all right, just got to do the whole thing over again.”
They did, 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.
