The American League was the only game in town on Tuesday after the Brewers raced ahead to a 2-0 start in the NLCS, the Guardians and Rays playing out Game 2 of their series with all the spotlights on them. The result was an even split of the first two games in Tampa, the series shifting over to Cleveland with both teams in the hunt for a berth in the Fall Classic.
American League Championship Series Game 2
Tampa Bay Rays 3, Cleveland Guardians 1
(Series tied, 1-1)
For the second straight time, Tampa Bay got excellent starting pitching to give
them the early advantage. Freddy Peralta has been electric since escaping Queens, pitching to a 3.25 ERA to close out the year, and the former Brewers ace took the ball looking to give the Rays more of the same in this game. He lasted six strong, scattering four hits with a pair of walks while striking out six and blanking Cleveland the whole way through. Cleveland managed to get runners on in the second inning after a single, wild pitch, and a hit by pitch for Brayan Rocchio, but he struck out on a foul tip to end that threat, and the only other time the Guardians got a runner into scoring position against Peralta came in the fifth when José Ramírez singled and stole second but he was also stranded after Jo Adell lined out.
On the other side, Parker Messick wasn’t fooling many bats in this outing. Junior Caminero hit a loud two-out double in the first inning that went nowhere and the Rays got runners on in the second and third that got erased on double play balls, but it was only a matter of time before the traffic on the basepaths began to hurt Messick, and the fourth inning proved to be trouble. Caminero led off with a walk, and a double play ball was narrowly beaten out by Victor Mesa Jr. after replay review overturned an out call at first. Messick bounced back to strike out Jonny DeLuca, but Chandler Simpson hit an infield single to keep the frame alive and Ben Williamson hit a grounder perfectly on the lip of the turf grass eating up Ramírez at third base allowing a run to score. Given an extra out to work with, Liam Hicks ripped a single to right-center to plate two more and give the Rays a 3-0 lead.
The Guardians were not out of this game yet though, and they finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh inning. Peralta exited, handing the ball over to Kevin Kelly out of the Rays’ bullpen, and he promptly walked Patrick Bailey after ABS review to lead off the inning. Two batters later Steven Kwan singled to put runners on first and second with one out, and after Ramírez flew out Kevin Cash went back to the ‘pen this time bringing out Ian Seymour. The move didn’t pay off, as Chase DeLautner ripped a double into the right field corner that scored Bailey. Critically, Kwan could only move to third base after a strong relay, and Adell left him stranded there striking out on four pitches.
That proved to be Cleveland’s last gasp in Game 2. The eighth and ninth innings saw the Guardians go down in order against Seymour and closer Bryan Baker, giving Tampa Bay a much-needed win as they will head on the road to Cleveland for the next three games. The Guardians got the job done in stealing away home field advantage after their Game 1 victory, but they’ll need some strong home cooking to prevent the Rays from swiping it right back. For now though they’ll get a day off as the National League takes its turn hogging the spotlight with the NLCS set to resume in Los Angeles.
