October 26:
Bring on Game 7!
Austin Meadows continued his ridiculous postseaon and Tyler Glasnow went 7 strong innings to propel the Rays to a 6-3 win over the Tigers to even the ALCS at 3 and force a Game 7 at the Trop tomorrow. Meadows, who had already driven in 7 runs in the first 5 games of this series and 14 overall in the playoffs, hit a 5th inning grand slam that turned the game around after Detroit had taken a 2-0 lead. Glasnow pitched well but surrendered a 2-run HR to Gavin Sheets in the 4th and the Rays looked to be in trouble. And after Meadows had the grand slam Sheets homered again leading off the 6th to make it 4-3. But Glasnow hung in there and made it through the 7th, ending 7 4 3 3 2 9 on 118 pitches. The Rays got some insurance in the 7th when Rafael Devers tripled and scored on Keibert Ruiz's sac fly, and after Jose Alvarado got them through the 8th they added another run in bottom of the frame after Keston Hiura doubled and scored on a Vidal Brujan groundball. This set up a dicey 9th inning for Jasseel De La Cruz, who blew Game 3. De La Cruz walked Alex Kirilloff to lead off the inning, hit Jonathan India with a pitch, struck out David Bote, but then walked Yasmani Grandal to load the bases. He then whiffed the tough Austin Martin on a 3-2 pitch and got Victor Reyes to ground to Brujan to mercifully end the game. It took him 34 pitches to get through the 9th so his Game 7 availability is in question. Speaking of Game 7, it will be a Matt Manning-Kumar Rocker rematch from Game 3, which of course Manning got the best of but didn't win because of the blown lead.
October 27:
They did it again!
It wasn't easy and full congratulations to Detroit on a great series and a great year, but for the second straight season the Rays won three straight elimination games to win a series and for the second straight year they won the ALCS in walk-off fashion as Wander Franco singled home Vidal Brujan in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 6-5 win that shouldn't have come down to the 9th inning. The Rays jumped out to a big early lead, in large part due to some bad fortune for the Tigers when their young ace Kumar Rocker had to leave in the 2nd inning with a shoulder issue after walking Alec Bohm to lead off the inning. Jordan Mills came on in relief and gave up a single to Nick Schnell, walked Spencer Torkelson to load the bases, and surrendered a 2-run double to Brandon Marsh. Wander Franco followed with a sac fly and a 4th run scored on a Jonathan India error. Matt Manning was dealing early, and it looked like the Rays would coast to victory. Although Manning allowed a run in the 5th, Rafael Devers got it right back with a solo HR in the bottom of the inning. But like in Game 3, Detroit starting chipping away at the lead and they picked up 2 in the 7th off Manning on an Austin Martin RBI groundout and a 2-out single by Victor Reyes and suddenly it was 5-3. Jose Alvarado came in and got Manning off the hook, and then pitched a perfect 8th. So we went to the 9th and Nick Anderson got the nod with righties due up and Jasseel De La Cruz tired from Game 6. Anderson got the first two outs quickly, but then Yasmani Grandal and Martin each picked up slow-rolling infield hits. And then Reyes stepped up and doubled into the gap, scoring them both and tying the game after the Rays were one out away from a pennant (as I yelled obscenities at my computer). Fortunately for the Rays, Reyes was thrown out at 3rd on the play so we went to the bottom of the 9th and Detroit brought on closer Kyle Crick. Vidal Brujan, who had a very quiet ALCS up to now after winning the ALDS MVP, greeted him with a triple off the top of the LCF wall, and then Wander singled to right through the drawn-in infield and once again it was delirium at the Trop as the Rays head to their 2nd straight World Series. Unsurprisingly Austin Meadows was named Series MVP despite a relatively quiet 1-3 with a walk today. It remains to be seen if the Cardinals or the Dodgers will be coming to town in a few days.
NLCS Game 6:
And it will be the Dodgers the Rays face in the World Series as they had their own series-winning game in which they built a lead, blew it, yet still ended up winning as they overcame St. Louis tying in the 9th to score 3 times in the 10th for the win. After Ian Happ hit a dramatic 9th inning leadoff HR off Jack Little to complete the Cardinals' comeback from a 3-0 deficit, their closer Connor Jones had a bout of wildness, walking a couple and giving up RBI singles to Gavin Lux and Mike Moustakas. Max Fried pitched well for the Dodgers but was denied the win. So it'll be an interesting World Series with the last two winners going head-to-head, plus the storyline of the traded pitchers (Walker Buehler and Max Fried) facing their old teams with a championship at stake. Gonna be fun.