It’s rare that a hitter feels in full control of a plate appearance. Hitting is an inherently reactive activity, with the pitcher in control of what pitch is thrown, how it’s thrown, where it’s thrown, even when and why it’s thrown. It’s even more difficult for the hitter to feel in control when facing a dominant pitcher, with elite arms attacking the opposition and making them feel as if they’re on the wrong side of an avalanche.
Which makes tonight’s offensive performance from the Rays all that
more impressive. Facing the presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner, Tampa’s hitters were in control all night. They made Cam Schlittler sweat, they made him work, and in the end, they made him bleed. The end result was a 5-1 Rays victory, a commanding 2-0 series lead, and another Yankees season on life support.
Schlittler was coming off a stellar performance in a season consisting almost exclusively of stellar performances. He diced up the Red Sox in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, leaning on his curveball in a surprise manuever that left Boston gasping for air. Schlitter’s strategy wasn’t quite as curve heavy this time around, using it 18 percent of the time compared to 27 percent versus Boston, electing to go after Tampa with his trademark high-heat, three-fastball approach.
The Rays were ready. Tampa’s hitters have the flattest swings of any team in the league, which in theory should make them a tough matchup for Schlittler, with their swing paths putting the bat right on plane to make contact with Schlittler’s fastballs. In practice, Schlittler proved unable to overpower them.
Schlittler managed only seven swings and misses, a total he failed to reach just once during this magnificent season. The Rays struck out twice versus the right-hander, the lowest mark all year for Schlittler. Tampa’s hitters just never seemed uncomfortable facing the best pitcher in the American League. They never expanded the zone, rarely found themselves in unfavorable counts, and made hard contact in nearly every inning against Schlittler. The Rays’ swings always seemed to be on time, fair or foul:
And even their takes exuded confidence:
It was a remarkable feat, to stare down the most intimidating pitcher in the league and to force him to blink, not vice versa.
On a day where his defense or offense backed him up, Schlittler still might have been able to make it work, to grind through five or six innings and eek out a win. Instead, New York played one of its sloppiest games ever, tallying a staggering five errors in the span of six innings, three in the first frame alone. You can thank the Rays’ fast, aggressive play style in part, forcing the Yankee fielders to speed up:
But the Yankees just failed to execute on defense in the most important game of the year, something that has happened before. Ryan McMahon booted the first batted ball of the game, Jazz Chisholm Jr. threw a ball away on an ill-fated attempt to turn two in the first, and George Lombard Jr. committed fielding and throwing errors in the fifth, helping the Rays along to their four-run outburst that ultimately sealed the game.
Played under the haunting dome of Tropicana Field, it felt like the quintessential Rays game. They refused to strike out, put the ball into the field of play, and put pressure on the Yankees to make plays, pressure the Yankees wilted under. This strategy doesn’t work all the time (remember, the Yankees both scored more and allowed fewer runs than the Rays this year), but when it does work, it can make the opponent look silly for trying to win any other way. If you squint, the Yankees really could have won their way; in a 1-1 ballgame with the bases loaded in the fifth, Cody Bellinger hit a ball 103 mph off the bat at a 27 degree angle, a combination that produced a home run 57 percent of the time in the regular season:
But Bellinger’s particular batted ball was to the deepest part of the park, and it settled into Jonny DeLuca’s glove a foot in front of the wall. If Bellinger could have pulled the ball just a little more, if he swung just barely harder, the Yankees could have been the team that surged ahead 5-1. Instead, Bellinger was left with nothing but a loud out, and the Yankees imploded in the next half-inning.
Outside of the continued brilliance of Ben Rice, there’s just not much to hang your hat on here. The Rays executed about as well as they possibly could given the circumstances, and the Yankees couldn’t have played much worse. New York returns to the Bronx deservedly trailing 2-0 in the ALDS for the second season in a row, having been undressed on the road by a division rival each time. As dire as it seems now, the season isn’t over; we all remember what happened in Game 3 last year. But we also remember what happened in Game 4, which underscores how deep of a hole the Yankees find themselves in yet again. They’ll need to find a minor miracle and pull out three in a row against Tampa Bay, or else find themselves trudging once more into the cold winter.
On the site today, Jeremy names the Yankees player of the game from Game 2, which had only one possible choice. Also, Madison recaps the White Sox/Guardians matchup from yesterday, Jonathan profiles Ruben Sierra for our Yankee Birthday series, and Peter delivers his At-bat of the Week, which features George Lombard Jr.
Today’s Matchup:
Offday.
