There’s no shame in winning a Pennant. There’s no shame in being best in the World Series. There’s no shame in losing to the best team in baseball, who took apart San Diego and the LA Dodgers en route to this series.
But man oh man, this was a shameful game.
This series as a whole has been pain incarnate. Everything that made this Rays team special and fun abandoned them and flipped.
Pitching not sharp, giving up too many walks, and not getting deep into games. Freddy Peralta got the mound tonight and much
like Rasmussen before him, was unable to get through the 5th and unable to be that ace stopper the Rays so desperately needed. In what might be his last Rays start, Peralta would go 4.2 IP 7 hits, 5 ER, 3 walks, and 4 Ks.
Defense was sloppy, again tonight with a few bobbles. And beyond those visable miscues you also had the tough plays not made.
What proved to be the pivot inning leading to several more hits and 8 total runs scored, Walls had the chance to make a spectacular scoop to keep the score 2-0. But like the rest of this series, Walls was unable to come up with the spectacular play, and that’s what you need to win a World Series vs a truly elite ballclub.
I will point out one truly awesome defensive play the Rays did make. Early in the game, when there was still fleeting hope the Rays could climb back into this series, Chandler Simpson hit the booster jets for a phenomenal catch (and crash) to save a run.
On the offensive side of things, that’s precisely what these Rays hitters were: offensive.
Yandy Diaz got the Rays started with a smoked line drive single for his first hit of the series. It would not be the last hard hit ball from the Rays but it would be the last hit for the Rays until garbage time in the 9th.
On the night the top three hardest hit balls for either team were all Rays. The aforementioned Yandy Diaz single (115.5 MPH), Nick Fortes (107.4) and inexplicably Ben Williamson (106.6).
But I’m not doing xBA watching in a game where the at bats were quick and fruitless, as Robert Gasser cruised through the Rays lineup getting deep into this game. Gasser would finish with 6 IP just the 1 hit, 1 BB, 3 K and 0 runs given up.
The Rays have been thoroughly outplayed, and tonight the dam just broke all the way open. The Brewers are now 1 win away from their first World Series title.
Can the Rays pull off a Boston Red Sox “don’t let us win tonight” style comeback? Theoretically sure. But so far I cannot recognize this Rays club. They have not played close to anything resembling what we have seen through the ALDS or the ALCS or the 162 games prior to that. It ain’t over until it’s over, but it’s getting over awfully quick.
