The Guardians’ bullpen has barely blinked this postseason, but it blinked tonight amidst some shaky defense as Cleveland lost to Tampa, 7-3.
Shawn Armstrong and Foster Griffin did enough tonight, providing a scoreless first and allowing one run in three and two-thirds after that, striking out five between them. Then, Daniel Espino didn’t have his command, walking two, and Tim Herrin, Slade Cecconi, and Matt Festa all gave up runs tonight (Festa giving Yandy Diaz a little revenge moment with a homer).
Joey Cantillo pitched the ninth, leading to the realization just announced that Parker Messick would be pitching tomorrow’s game for the Guardians (likely vs. Drew Rasmussen).
As for hitting, Travis Bazzana atoned for an error with a home run:
and a single, and Chase DeLauter (who also made an error) and Brayan Rocchio had RBI singles. Angel Martinez got another hit, so there is life there. Overall, they still can’t really hit Nick Martinez… but they showed life against the best arms in the Rays’ pen. Today wasn’t Jose’s or Nate Lowe’s best day, but the lineup looked competent otherwise, making some hard contact outs and causing enough problems where Kevin Cash had to use his best relievers. Meanwhile, Cade Smith, Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis all had the night off. That’s something.
The Guardians were not crisp on the field, at the plate or on the bases. They’ll need to shake off the clouds of yesterday and today to punch back in this series. They did get to see Freddy Peralta in relief (side session outing like Gavin in the ALDS, only in the fireman role, here), so hopefully they can use that to their advantage in game six (or seven).
Nothing is easy in the playoffs. Time for the boys to rally around a raucous crowd tomorrow afternoon and win one more home game before the series returns to Tampa Bay. They have proven they can hang with these Rays. Just have to find a way to finish the job.
