Like me, no doubt, you feel as though you just had the most wonderful, awful, stressful and joyous 2.5 hours of your baseball fan life.
The actual recap can be quick.
The Rays got five hits. Kudos to Palacios and Hicks for hitting doubles, both of which bounced off the right-center wall just feet away from leaving the park. But they were stranded, as were Diaz and Mesa who hit singles, and Hicks and Caminero, who walked (Cami walked twice).
But only one hit actually resulted in a run; that was Jonathan
Aranda’s third inning home run.
So thanks, Johnny, for that!
But otherwise the story of the game was Drew Rasmussen (with assists from some good fielding and a very bad mistake by Yankee catcher Austin Wells).
I have no words to describe Rasmussen’s night. He gave up one hit and two walks while striking out ten, that’s good for sure.
But the numbers don’t do this performance justice. To be focused, efficient, and dominant like this IN A PLAYOFF GAME with no margin for error. To be so efficient that Kevin Cash lets you pitch eight innings, during 7.2 of which the Yankees recorded no hits at all.
To generate TWENTY-THREE (23!) whiffs.
To get major league hitters to do this:
The only hit for the Yankees came with two outs in the eight, and it actually ended in an out. Austin Wells hit the ball well, but for….reasons….the Yankee catcher was so determined to turn this into a triple that he never even looked up to see his third base coach signaling for him to hold at second base.
It took an outstanding throw from Victor Mesa Jr. in right field and a sharp relay from Taylor Walls, of course, but did the Yankees expect any less? So the Yankees only base runner was wiped out at third base to end the eighth inning.
This reminded me a bit of the famous 2019 ALDS relay — Kiermaier to Adames to d’Arnaud. That was more impressive in that there was more distance to cover (deep center field to home), but this one was more significant because of the tight score.
Bryan Baker then polished off the Yankees in the ninth inning, adding two strikeouts of his own.
To be sure, this game was a bit frustrating on the offensive side. Gerrit Cole didn’t seem particularly sharp yet the Rays couldn’t capitalize on the base runners they had (not many strikeouts but lots of weak contact). With the Yankees set to bring out two much better starters on Monday and Wednesday, it would be nice to have some confidence that the Rays hitters were swinging well.
In a five game series, however, winning the first game is a huge boost, and we can celebrate. Until the anxiety starts all over again on Monday.
