Ugh...
The Rays' title defense came to an ignominious end at Tropicana Field today as they blew a certain win and advancement to the ALDS, losing instead 8-5 in 17 innings on Spencer Torkelson's 3-run homer off Forrest Whitley. Whitley gave up a 2-out double and with Riley Greene due, who had killed us in the 3 games and was voted series MVP, he was intentionally walked to bring up the righty-on-righty matchup with Tork, who made us pay. None of this would have transpired had not Pete Fairbanks had an epic meltdown in the 9th, wasting the game of John Swanda's life after the righty held Detroit to 1 hit through 7 innings and the Rays held a 3-0 lead. In that fateful inning Fairbanks recorded two outs with a man on 2nd, gave up a 2-run homer to Greene and still needing just one more out instead gave up a walk and two singles to allow Detroit to tie it. That was very likely Fairbanks' final appearance as a Ray as he's a free agent after the season.
It was a year of promise and a year for long stretches where we held one of the two top spots in the AL, only to collapse down the stretch after a wave of injuries and end up in this 3-game playoff round. Detroit will now play Kansas City in the ALDS.
At least there was some good news in the minors:
The Biscuits are Southern League champs, and Durham has advanced to the International League finals against Lehigh Valley after dispatching Memphis in 5 games in their best-of-7 first round matchup.