The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Saturday night, Oct. 17, to tie the American League Championship Series at two games each. The Rays scored three times in the seventh inning, helped by a Guardians error, and added two more on Yandy Díaz’s home run in the ninth. Game 5 is today, Sunday, Oct. 18, at 5:08 p.m. EDT as scheduled in Cleveland.
Keegan Matheson’s report on the game for MLB.com describes the series as “now a best-of-three” after the tie. The ALCS is a best-of-seven series, so the first team to four wins advances to the World Series; at 2-2, the Game 5 winner will be one win from the World Series.
Why the game was played on Saturday
Game 4 was scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, but rain postponed it. It was moved to Saturday night, and Game 5 was pushed to Sunday, according to ESPN.
Saturday’s game started at 8:08 p.m. EDT in 46-degree, partly cloudy weather. It lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes, and the announced crowd was 33,355.
How the game went
Cleveland scored first. In the bottom of the first inning, Chase DeLauter singled and Steven Kwan scored, making it 1-0 Guardians. It was the only run Rays starter Nick Martinez allowed. MLB.com noted that Martinez had thrown 13 scoreless innings against the Guardians this season before that run.
The Rays tied it in the third. Jonathan Aranda singled to center field, and Díaz scored to make it 1-1.
Earlier in the game, Junior Caminero hit a hard fly ball that did not leave the park. Statcast, MLB’s ball-tracking system, measures how hard and at what angle a ball leaves the bat. MLB.com reported that Petey Halpin caught Caminero’s deep fly at the base of the center-field wall, and that it was the 265th ball hit with an exit speed of 110.0 to 110.9 mph and a launch angle of 28 to 30 degrees. MLB.com said the other 264 balls in that same speed-and-angle band in Statcast’s data, which it said includes the postseason, were all home runs.
In the sixth inning, Caminero doubled into the left-field corner and Aranda scored, putting the Rays ahead 2-1. The ball left the bat at 110.2 mph, according to MLB.com, over the head of a leaping José Ramírez.
The seventh inning
The Rays pulled away in the top of the seventh. Aranda singled to right field, and Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls scored. DeLauter, the Guardians’ right fielder, was charged with a fielding error on the play, meaning he misplayed the ball; MLB.com wrote that it slipped under his glove and rolled deep, which brought home an extra run. Chandler Simpson then flied out to right field, a sacrifice fly, which let Aranda score from third and made it 5-1.
Cleveland answered in the bottom half. Travis Bazzana homered to right field to make it 5-2, and Brayan Rocchio singled to score Patrick Bailey, cutting the lead to 5-3. The Guardians did not score again.
MLB.com also reported that Kwan busted his lip on a slide into first base while trying to keep that inning going, and came out late for the next inning with gauze packed in his mouth.
In the ninth, Díaz hit a two-run homer to right field, with Palacios on base. The ball went to the opposite field. That made the final score 7-3.
The pitching
Martinez went 5 1/3 innings, allowed one earned run and struck out three on 79 pitches, and was the winning pitcher. Freddy Peralta, who won Game 2 of this series, came in to relieve Martinez and pitched two-thirds of an inning on 9 pitches. Ian Seymour, Kevin Kelly, Cam Booser and Bryan Baker finished the game for Tampa Bay.
Cleveland used seven pitchers. Shawn Armstrong, a reliever, was the listed starter and pitched the first inning as an opener; ESPN’s preview of the game described it as a bullpen game, meaning that several relievers pitch in turn rather than one starter going deep. Foster Griffin followed and threw 3 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. Daniel Espino, who pitched 1/3 of an inning and gave up a run, took the loss. Tim Herrin, Slade Cecconi, Matt Festa and Joey Cantillo also pitched.
The Rays had 11 hits to Cleveland’s 8. The Guardians made two errors, and the Rays made none. The Guardians’ two errors were Bazzana’s in the first inning and DeLauter’s in the seventh.
The series so far
- Game 1, Monday, Oct. 12, in Tampa Bay: Guardians 7, Rays 3.
- Game 2, Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Tampa Bay: Rays 3, Guardians 1.
- Game 3, Thursday, Oct. 15, in Cleveland: Guardians 3, Rays 2.
- Game 4, Saturday, Oct. 17, in Cleveland: Rays 7, Guardians 3.
What the 2-2 tie means
With the win, the Rays guarantee that the series returns to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for Game 6 on Monday.
MLB.com also gave a historical figure for context. In best-of-seven postseason series with the current 2-3-2 format, a format in which one team hosts Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 and the other hosts Games 3, 4 and 5, that were tied after Game 4, the team playing Game 5 on the road has gone on to win the series 35 of 62 times (56%). The Rays play Game 5 away from home.
That number describes past series. It does not say what will happen in this one.
MLB.com also noted that the Guardians were down 0-2 to the White Sox in the Division Series and are still just two wins from the World Series.
After Saturday’s game, Rays manager Kevin Cash said, as quoted by MLB.com: “We’ve got a huge game, another swing game tomorrow, which [Parker] Messick is pitching for them. That should be quite the pitching matchup. But it is nice to guarantee a game back there for our fans to see.” A “swing game” here means a game that could tip the series.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, as quoted by MLB.com: “This is the ALCS. We obviously would have loved to have taken tonight, but we still have a three-game series ahead of us against a really good team. And I anticipate it going down to the wire. That’s the way these two teams are.”
What is not known
The Game 5 result is not known, because the game has not been played. This account was written before the first pitch. The available reports give no injury update on Kwan beyond MLB.com’s description of his lip. The schedule data does not yet list starting pitchers for Games 6 and 7.
What comes next
Game 5 is Sunday, Oct. 18, at 5:08 p.m. EDT at Progressive Field. The probable starters are Drew Rasmussen for the Rays and Parker Messick for the Guardians.
If the series goes the distance, Game 6 is Monday, Oct. 19, at 8:08 p.m. EDT, and Game 7, if necessary, is Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 8:08 p.m. EDT. Both would be in St. Petersburg, where the Rays are the home team.
The winner of the ALCS will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.