Well that was unfortunate...
The Rays had a golden opportunity to go up 2-0 in the ALCS, but like in Games 1 & 2 of the ALDS the normally-reliable bullpen let them down, allowing the Twins to score twice in the 8th to take a 5-4 win over the Rays and even things up.
Tylor Megill barely got through the 7th and then
Dax Fulton gave up a tying RBI single to Minnesota's standout rookie Julian Valcin, who had earlier homered. And
Landon Knack then gave up an RBI double to former Ray Joey Bart which lost the game. The Rays nearly pulled it out in the 9th when with 2 out and nobody on they got singles from pinch-hitter
Jose Aguilar and
Chris Seise, and
Ed Howard walked to load the bases for the one guy we would have picked to be at the plate,
Wander Franco. But Franco grounded to short and Francisco Lindor, who earlier in the day got a 3/100 extension from the Twins, threw him out.
Meanwhile
Luis Severino's brief career as a Ray is over as after giving up the homer to Valcin in the 2nd he left with a herniated disc in his back and is done for the season. So after babying Severino with rehab and skipping starts to keep him healthy for the postseason all we got out of him was one lousy start in Yankee Stadium and the aborted one today.
Kendall Williams, who was excellent in long relief both of those times, is the front-runner to get the Game 6 start should we get that far. And now it's off to Minnesota, where
James Hays will try to get us back in front.