The American League Championship Series is now a best-of-five. The Tampa Bay Rays used a three-run fourth inning to win Game 2 at Tropicana Field on Tuesday (TB 3, CLE 1), knotting their best-of-seven series with the Cleveland Guardians at one game apiece. Wednesday is an off-day. The ALCS will resume with Game 3 at Progressive Field on Thursday.
"Going to a challenging place to play," Rays manager Kevin Cash said about the ALCS shifting to Cleveland. "We played there not too long ago in the postseason. That's as good an atmosphere as you're going to see. They've got a great fan base that's going to be behind their team. I'd like to think we can carry our momentum into there and just play good baseball for Game 3."
Both teams had plenty of traffic in the early innings of Game 2. It was not until Guardians star José Ramírez let a ground ball -- the would-be third out of the fourth inning -- get through his legs that either team broke through on the scoreboard. Liam Hicks followed with a two-run single as the Rays turned Ramírez's error into a three-run inning, the kind of big inning they'd been unable to put together up to this point in the postseason.
Freddy Peralta turned in maybe his best start with the Rays, firing six shutout innings on 99 pitches. Three relievers -- Kevin Kelly, Ian Seymour, Bryan Baker -- were able to keep the Guardians at bay in the late innings to close out the win. The ALCS is tied 1-1. Whichever team wins three of the next five games will represent the American League in the World Series.
Escaping Tropicana Field with a split is a good outcome for the Guardians. After the Game 1 win, though, you know they wanted to get greedy and take both games. Instead, the Guardians get the split, and it's a best-of-five series now. Here now are our winners and losers from Game 2.
Winner: The Tropicana Field turf
It is fast and bouncy, and unlike any other homefield advantage in baseball. The Tropicana Field turf plays quickly, and the Rays are built to use it with their speed and bunting ability. Tampa broke the scoreless tie with a three-run bottom of the fourth inning. The turf was front and center, starting with Chandler Simpson's very high Baltimore chopper for an infield single.
Guardians lefty Parker Messick should have been out of the inning when Ben Williamson hit a ground ball to third base with two outs, but the ball picked up spin and scooted through Ramírez's legs. That allowed the first run to score. Hicks followed with a two-run single and suddenly it was 3-0 Rays.
"It looked like it took that first hop, Josey kind of got stuck. It looked like he just didn't move his feet," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "And I don't know if it hit the lip or not on the second hop, but just kind of looked like he sat back a little bit with his feet set instead of moving his feet. Tough break right there, and obviously they capitalized."
The Ramírez error is at least the third time this postseason that a usually sure-handed defender allowed a ball get by him because the turf plays so fast. Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon let a chopper get by him in the first inning of Game 1 of the ALDS, and Steven Kwan let something similar happen in left field in the first inning of Monday's Game 1.
The Rays had 143 infield hits this season, the second-most in baseball, and their 29 bunt hits at home were 10 more than any other team. This is what (most of) their roster is designed to do. Put the ball on the ground and run. Simpson's single started it, Ramírez's error continued it, then Hicks fully kicked the door open.
"José Ramírez is as good as any third baseman there is in the game, and we were fortunate to maybe catch a break there," Cash said. "But once you catch the break, it's kind of what you do with it. And Liam picked us up in a big way."
Loser: Cleveland's ability to finish
It was not until the top of the sixth that there was a 1-2-3 inning in Game 2. Both teams had lots of traffic in the game's first half, but only the Rays were able to break through. The Guardians gave themselves plenty of chances to put points on the board. They were just unable to get The Big Hit. Look at these wasted opportunities:
- 1st inning: Stranded a runner at first.
- 2nd inning: Stranded runners at first and second.
- 3rd inning: Stranded a runner at first.
- 4th inning: Stranded a runner at first.
- 5th inning: Stranded runners at first and second.
- 7th inning: Stranded runners at second and third.
Chase DeLauter's two-out double in the seventh inning finally got the Guardians on the board. The ball was hit so hard that Kwan was unable to score from first base, however, so it was a one-run double and a 3-1 Rays lead, not a two-run double and a 3-2 Rays lead. Jo Adell then struck out on four pitches to end the inning and squash the rally.
It is better to have opportunities and not score than not to have opportunities at all. The Guardians largely had good at-bats and did have men on base in Game 2, and that's half the battle. They were just unable to cash enough of those runners in after doing it so well in their previous four games. Cleveland went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position in Game 2.
"We had our chances," Vogt said. "We had a lot of chances, but we weren't able to come up with the big hit."
Winner: Freddy's Fastball
Fastball Freddy Peralta has been a new pitcher with the Rays. He had an awful half-season with the Mets, pitching to a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts, which prompted his deadline trade to Tampa. The Rays helped Peralta make several adjustments, specifically raising his arm angle and upping his changeup usage, and the result was a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts. The Rays, man.
Game 2 was not the smoothest start for Peralta -- he did not record a 1-2-3 inning until the sixth -- but he gave the Rays six shutout innings, and you can never complain about that. Peralta was throwing gas, too. It was arguably the best fastball of his career:
Peralta finished with four singles and two walks allowed in his six scoreless innings. He struck out six and threw 99 pitches, and hey, 99 pitches in six innings is an efficient night for him. Even at his best, Peralta can be a tough watch because he throws so many pitches per inning. Five-Inning Freddy is not an undeserved nickname.
Shane McClanahan's forearm injury created a void in Tampa's rotation and Peralta has filled it more than capably. He was the No. 1 starter all those years for the NL Central-winning Brewers. He's used to pitching in big games. After a pretty bad half-season with the Mets, Peralta's finishing 2026 very well. Game 2 just might've been his best start of the year.
"I think the velocity really stood out today," Cash said. "I don't know for a fact, but it felt like that might have been his highest velocity we've seen. He had to have been averaging or carrying 97-plus. There were some 98s, 99s in there. But when you have that arsenal, no reason not to be confident."
Loser: Brayan Rocchio
Rocchio, Cleveland's No. 9 hitter, had so many big hits for the Guardians during the regular season. He was a league-average hitter overall but a monster in high-leverage situations, posting a .938 OPS. The Guardians have had a revolving door at shortstop since the Francisco Lindor trade and it looks like Rocchio has finally given them stability at the position.
This has not been a good postseason for Rocchio, however, and Game 2 was especially bad. Rocchio struck out to end the second inning with two runners on base, and also flew out weakly in the seventh inning. He didn't just fly out in that seventh inning. He flew out weakly on the first pitch after the previous batter, Patrick Bailey, worked a leadoff walk.
Reliever Kevin Kelly had not yet found the zone and Rocchio gave him what amounted to a free out. The next batter, Steven Kwan, saw a 3-0 count before lining a single. Kelly just might've worked himself into trouble and let the Guardians back in the game had Rocchio given him a chance. Alas. Rocchio is 2 for 22 with seven strikeouts this postseason. Rough.
