CLEVELAND — Rays Tie AL Championship Series
Jonathan Aranda’s single in the seventh inning led to two crucial runs as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians, 7-3, on Saturday night. This victory allowed the Rays to level the AL Championship Series at 2-2. Nick Martinez earned his first postseason win, pitching 5 1/3 innings.
Game 5 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Sunday in Cleveland, with the action moving back to St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday. There will be no travel day since Friday’s game was postponed due to rain.
“It means a lot because we know that we play well at home in front of our fans. We’ve got a huge game, another swing game tomorrow,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash.
Travis Bazzana hit his first postseason homer for Cleveland, but it was a tough night overall for the Guardians’ defense, which included a fielding error at second base.
The first four hitters in the Rays’ lineup — Yandy Díaz, Aranda, Chandler Simpson, and Junior Caminero — contributed significantly, combining for six of the Rays’ 11 hits and driving in six runs after struggling previously in the series.
After going 0 for 10 in the earlier games, Aranda turned things around with three hits and two RBIs. Diaz added two hits, including a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Matt Festa. Both Simpson and Caminero also drove in runs.
“A lot of really good at-bats. A lot of hard hits,” Cash commented. “But overall, I’m just happy that Junior squared some balls up, Aranda came through in a big way for us, and then Yandy there at the end with a two-run, add-on homer.”
On a chilly 46-degree night, Martinez (1-0) allowed just one run and two hits in what was his second career postseason start. The Guardians went ahead 1-0 in the first inning thanks to DeLauter’s RBI single, but Martinez then retired 10 consecutive batters until he walked Bazzana in the fifth.
Tampa Bay took the lead 2-1 in the sixth with Caminero’s double off Daniel Espino (0-1) before breaking the game open with three runs in the seventh inning.
Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls reached base with hits and advanced on a double steal. After Díaz struck out, Aranda hit a single past a diving Bazzana into right field. Palacios scored, and when DeLauter mishandled the ball, Walls came home as well. Aranda advanced to third and scored on Simpson’s sacrifice fly.
“It looked like it may have snaked on him or just skipped by him, took his eye off of it,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said, referencing DeLauter’s error. “A couple of unfortunate plays for us tonight that we usually complete and just weren’t able to do it.”
Bazzana homered in the seventh against Ian Seymour, and Brayan Rocchio added an RBI single, narrowing the score to 5-3 for Cleveland.
Shawn Armstrong began the game and struck out one batter in the first inning before being replaced by Foster Griffin.
Up next
Rookie Parker Messick (0-2, 3.09 ERA) will make his fourth postseason start for Cleveland. He previously pitched five innings with three unearned runs in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss in Game 2. For Tampa Bay, Drew Rasmussen (1-0, 1.29 ERA) previously allowed two runs over six innings in Game 1 while striking out seven, but the Guardians came back for a 7-3 win.
