Back in it...
This time the bullpen held, but just barely, as the Rays took Game 3 from Cincinnati 4-2 on a chilly, rainy miserable Halloween night in Cincinnati but they didn't care about the weather when it was over.
Jeffrey Springs was brilliant once again in these playoffs and we decided not to mess around and brought
Felix Bautista in for the two-inning save. The 8th was a breeze for him but the 9th not so much. He gave up a one-out double and then struck out the next man, but a walk and then a double made it 4-2 with the tying runs in scoring position. With Bautista now in the red at 32 pitches, I made the gamble to pull him and bring in soft-tossing lefty
Richard Lovelady to face the lefty due up, but the Reds countered with a righty pinch-hitter, Ryan Jeffers. Luckily Lovelady got him to fly to left and that was the ballgame. Meanwhile on the hitting side our former Orioles contingent got the job done with
Heston Kjerstad (who drove in the first run) hitting a tie-breaking solo homer in the 7th and
Jordan Westburg delivering a 2-run double later in the inning which proved to be the winning margin.
Taj Bradley will be looking to turn his postseason fortunes around with a good start tomorrow to try and get the Rays even.