Rays’ Glasnow isn’t pitching like an ace
The big man in Tampa Bay’s rotation has struggled with the little things, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have pounced on seemingly every mistake Tyler Glasnow has made.
Glasnow allowed four runs in five innings as the Rays fell 42 in Game 5 Sunday night, taking his second loss in this World Series. He threw a Series record three wild pitches, allowed his record ninth homer of the postseason, and despite overpowering stuff, never took control against a Dodger team that has exposed his few flaws while moving within one win of the title.
Lanky and strong at 6foot8, Glasnow runs his fastball over 100 mph with electric rise and snaps his curveball violently toward the earth — a devastating 12 punch that rivals any in the game. Since being swindled away from the Pirates in a 2018 trade, the 27yearold has looked the part of a knockout ace. And yet, his ERA through six postseason starts is a staggering 6.28.
“I think it’s definitely not my greatest month of baseball, that’s for sure,” he said.
The righthander with strikeout stuff has missed plenty of bats, punching out 15 over his two Fall Classic starts. But he has been plagued by shaky command, a weakness against the running game and perhaps because he lacks a reliable third pitch.
“What hurt him is the talent of the Dodgers lineup more than anything,“Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They’re just really, really talented.”
Well, it is Joctober: Joc Pederson is the guy the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t need or want — until October.
After nearly being traded in February and hitting .190 this season, Pederson is coming up big in the postseason.
Pederson crushed a fastball from Glasnow over the leftcenter field wall leading off the second Sunday night, extending LA’s lead to 30. After enduring a stunning 87 loss in Game 4, the Dodgers rebounded early and went on to a 42 victory over Tampa Bay. Los Angeles is one win away from its first World Series championship since 1988.
“They don’t call it Joctober for no reason,” said Max Muncy, who added a solo shot in the fifth. “The guy performs on the huge stage, that’s just what he does.”
Pederson could tell his 428foot blast was gone.
“They don’t want that smoke,” Pederson bellowed upon returning to the dugout. “Come on, let’s go!”
It was the Dodgers’ 28th home run of the postseason after leading the majors with 118 during the regular season.
Speaking of homers: For all the talk about advancing runners and manufacturing runs, teams in the postseason have really dug the long ball.
Home runs drove in 237 of the 462 runs in the postseason through World Series Game 5, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That comes to 51.3%, up from 46.6% last year and highest since the postseason expanded beyond the World Series in 1969.
The Rays didn’t connect Sunday night. They have 33 homers in the postseason, accounting for 52 of 78 runs.
The thrill of victory: Brett Phillips got so excited in the aftermath of his twoout single in the ninth inning of Game 4, the one that started a wild gameending play with two errors and two runs for Tampa Bay in an 87 victory, that he got sick.
Phillips’ head started pounding, and the athletic training staff covered his head with a towel to calm him after the crazy celebration that followed the Los Angeles Dodgers’ miscues that allowed Randy Arozarena to score the winning run from first base.
“During the celebration, just exhausting a lot of energy, and I almost passed out. I didn’t realize I was dehydrated,” Phillips said Sunday. “I had to get an IV — first time, getting an IV. … When I went to the training room, my resting heart rate was over 140 just laying there. ... Just a little hyperventilation.”
Phillips said he had a little more than 500 text messages when he got back to the hotel, and he didn’t go to bed until about 4 a. m. after replying to “every single one of those messages. That’s something I take a lot of passion into, thanking everyone that supported me.”