Rays on brink of total collapse
Houston trying to come back from 3-0 deficit in ALCS
SAN DIEGO — With three consecutive losses in the AL Championship Series, the Tampa Bay Rays are on the brink of an extremely regrettable bit of baseball history.
Unlike the 2004 New York Yankees, the Rays still have a chance to avoid a flop that will follow them forever.
Tampa Bay and Houston will play Game 7 at Petco Park on Saturday after the Astros incredibly stretched the ALCS to the limit with a 7-4 victory Friday night.
“All in all, I think we’re in a pretty good spot,” said Charlie Morton, the Rays’ starter in Game 7. “But there’s no denying this is a frustrating spot to be in.”
Although it certainly didn’t feel that way when Houston turned a double play to end Game 6, the Rays are still one win away from their franchise’s second trip to the World Series, just as they were on Wednesday when they had a 3-0 series lead.
After another defeat filled with pitching woes, questionable managerial decisions and defensive mistakes that would have seemed improbable just three days ago for the AL’S winningest regular season team, the Rays are also one loss away from matching the worst playoff collapse in 116 years of postseason baseball.
Game 6 starter Blake Snell exemplified the frustration on the Tampa Bay roster when manager Kevin Cash pulled him in the fifth inning after just 82 pitches with two runners on, but no Houston runs on the board. Snell didn’t like the move, and as the former Cy Young Award winner walked to the dugout, he said to himself, “What
are we doing?”
“Yeah, I was confused for sure,” Snell said. “But that’s what (Cash) thought the best call and decision was. For me, it’s just very confusing, frustrating. I want to be out there. I want to be the guy that takes the team deeper in the ballgame.”
Apparently rushed into duty, reliever Diego Castillo promptly allowed both of his runners inherited from Snell to score, then allowed two more runs for the first postseason scoring against Castillo in his career.
Rays relievers had stranded all 21 runners they inherited this postseason prior to that.
Tampa Bay made up for its ordinary offense throughout the season with excellent pitching and defense, but the Rays stumbled in both aspects in Game 6. The precision that has come to define the Rays — in their fielding, their
mound work and their tactical decisions — is in disarray.
“I’ve seen these guys play such clean baseball over and over this year,” Cash said. “We’ve got a track record of it, and we bet we’re going to get back to playing really clean, efficient baseball.”
These teetering Rays need any sort of steadiness after their first three-game losing streak since Sept. 7-10, and they expect to get it with the 36-year-old Morton on the mound in Game 7. Morton pitched two seasons and won a World Series ring with the Astros before joining Tampa Bay last year.
Morton pitched the final four innings of Houston’s Game 7 World Series victory over the Dodgers three years ago. That game was started for Houston by Lance Mccullers Jr., who will start again for the Astros in San Diego on Saturday.