CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUNDUP
ALCS Game 7
Rays 4, Astros 2
SAN DIEGO – By now, every baseball fan has heard of remarkable rookie Randy Arozarena. They’re fast becoming familiar with his World Series-bound Tampa Bay teammates, too.
“You sit here and look at this group of guys, and I always say we don’t have a lot of household names, but at the same time, people are making a name for themselves right now,” outfielder Kevin Kiermaier said.
They kept doing that in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series on Saturday night.
Arozarena homered again, 36-year-old Charlie Morton was brilliant against his former team and the Rays silenced Houston to reach the World Series for just the second time.
The Rays will face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Atlanta Braves in the World Series in Arlington, Texas, starting Tuesday night. Game 7 of the NLCS is Sunday night.
Right fielder Manuel Margot squeezed Aledmys Diaz’s flyball in his glove for the final out and fireworks burst overhead as the Rays began to celebrate the AL pennant in an NL ballpark, a byproduct of the pandemic-shortened season.
“If you don’t know the name by now, they better learn them, because we’ve we got some boys who can play,” said Kiermaier, the Rays’ longest-tenured player.
That would start with Arozarena, who set a rookie record with his seventh home run – a two-run shot in the first – and was chosen ALCS MVP.
“Randy Arozarena, I don’t have any words to describe what he’s done, what he’s meant to us this postseason,” manager Kevin Cash said. “For him to have a bat in his hand with an opportunity for a big home run, really, I think it settled a lot of people in the dugout. It certainly did me.”
Arozarena, a relative unknown before the postseason, has brought power and some serious dance moves to the Rays.
“I wouldn’t say I was chasing MVP, but I was just trying to do everything for the team, anything to allow us to win,” the 25-year-old left fielder said through a translator.
Arozarena did Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous goal celebration after his homer and again after receiving the MVP. Eight nights earlier, he threw down a breakdancing move to win a dance-off with Brett Phillips while the Rays celebrated their AL Division Series win against the New York Yankees.
Tampa Bay’s only other World Series appearance was in 2008, when it lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.
NLCS Game 6
Dodgers 3, Braves 1
ARLINGTON, Texas - Corey Seager homered again, Walker Buehler pitched six scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers pushed the NL Championship Series to Game 7. The Dodgers avoided elimination for the second time in less than 24 hours, and now have a winner-take-all game to try to get to their third World Series in four years.
“I’m still sort of recovering from this one, but already thinking about Game 7,” manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s what you live for.”
Max Fried took his first loss all year for the Braves, who were trying to celebrate manager Brian Snitker’s 65th birthday with the franchise’s first World Series since 1999. But the young left-hander worked into the seventh without allowing another run after LA’s three-run first.
“Shoot, we’ll go out there and let ’er fly. A Game 7 is another baseball game,” Snitker said. “It’s not fourthand-1 and let me get the first down. It’s a baseball game. You have to treat it as such.”
Justin Turner also homered for the NL West champions, and Kenley Jansen threw a six-pitch ninth for his 18th career postseason save.
It was Jansen’s first save chance in five appearances since the wild-card round.
“Two huge outings, not only for us, but him personally, you can just see the confidence he has on the mound attacking guys,” Turner said. “That’s the Kenley Jansen I and all of us in there all know and love.”
Fried allowed only two homers in his 11 starts while going 7-0 during the regular season, but the Dodgers went deep twice in three pitches in the first.