We're heading back to the Trop for a winner-take-all Game 5 after the Rays downed the Yankees 7-2 behind a great performance from rookie Alec Sachais and some good hitting. Sachais had all the pressure of the world on him: being a rookie, pitching at Yankee Stadium in the playoffs and with his team facing elimination, but he came through with a 6 7 1 1 1 9 performance. Despite the decent amount of baserunners, Sachais came up with the big pitch when he needed it with the only damage an Alfonso Rivas homer in the 4th. Jack Filby's line may not look like much in the boxscore but he came through huge in the 7th, retiring the extremely tough "Killer V's" combo of Vidal Brujan, Victor Robles, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. in order with the game still at 4-1. Jose Alvarado came through big as well, striking out the side in the eighth and keeping it at 4-1. After the Rays made it 7-1 in the top of the 9th, JDLC sat down and Jack Leiter pitched the 9th, allowing a Cade Horton homer that was merely a footnote. The bats got going in the 3rd when the unlikely duo of Keibert Ruiz and Ricky Widmar hit back-to-back homers off Cionel Perez, who relieved Gerrit Cole who left with shoulder tendinitis after 2. Jasson Dominguez had a big RBI double in the 6th to make it 3-1, and Nate Clark had a key RBI double in the 7th which made it 4-1. Jud Fabian singled in a run and Dominguez singled in two more in the 9th to finally make it comfortable. So we're back to the Trop in a pitching rematch of Game 1: Christian Little vs Dave Falco. Will Falco be this year's Jordan Romano, the Blue Jay pitcher who shut them down in Games 1 & 5 of the 2022 ALDS at the Trop? Or will the bats get to him while Little does his thing? Stay tuned in two days.
Over in the NLDS, the Cardinals completed the sweep of Atlanta behind the combination of their great pitching and Brandon Marsh, who was 2-5 with an RBI today and named MVP of the series. St. Louis is the one team I wouldn't want to face in the WS due to their pitching. Meanwhile the Padres-Phillies series remains extraordinarily tight with all 3 games decided by a run as San Diego takes a 2-1 lead. Rookie Mario Martez, who had all of 26 MLB at-bats coming into the postseason, delivered a pinch-hit 2-run double in the 7th to give the Padres the margin of victory. Joey Cantillo will try to close out the series at Petco tomorrow.
