World Series now best-of-five affair
Game 3 goes tonight
After Game 1, they were dead and buried by most everyone. After Game 2?
Well … the Tampa Bay Rays have life, thanks to Brandon Lowe and Blake Snell.
Not that they were ever truly suffering, though.
Shaking off losses is nothing new to the Rays. It’s a big reason why they’ve made it this far.
Indeed, they’re back in the 2020 World Series, holding on for a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
“We’re here, and we’ve got a good team,” Snell told MLB Network post-game. “So, we’ll see what we’re able to do.” It was easy early.
It started with Brandon Lowe getting off the schneid with a solo shot in the first inning off Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin.
He then parked another one over the same left-field fence in the fifth inning — a blast to score two — to turn Game 2 into a no-doubter.
All the offence, including a two-run fourth when Joey Wendle doubled home JiMan Choi and Manuel Margot, came while starter Snell was busy silencing the Dodgers’ big bats.
Just like Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers one night earlier, the Rays starter put on a pitching clinic.
“I’m just really confident in all my pitches,” Snell told MLB Network post-game. “Once I hit the mound, everything just locked in. I was in the zone for a good amount of it. I went into the weight room and started running and doing squats — did some extra stuff (after not feeling it in the bullpen before the game), and it worked.”
That is until the fifth inning, when the Dodgers came alive with their usual sudden flurry of offence to score two on a Chris Taylor homer and put two more on base before Snell, who allowed only two runs on two hits while fanning nine, was chased. But Rays stopper Nick Anderson came in to fan the usuallyclutch Justin Turner and halt the rally.
That was a large moment in the victory.
The teams traded runs in the sixth inning — Wendle knocking home another run on a sacrifice fly for the Rays, and then Will Smith smacking a solo homer for the Dodgers.
And the Dodgers made it ever more interesting with a Corey Seager solo shot in the eighth and a threat to follow with Turner on second. But Pete Fairbanks and fellow Rays reliever Aaron Loup — a former Toronto Blue Jay — worked out of the no-out jam, punctuated by Loup’s strikeout of big-hitting Cody Bellinger.
Loup and closer Diego Castillo then shut it down in the ninth to save the triumph.
The World Series resumes with Game 3 tonight after a rare postseason day off Thursday. Tonight’s expected pitching matchup should feature playoff stalwart Charlie Morton (3-0 record, 0.57 ERA in the 2020 postseason) for the Rays taking on ace Walker Buehler (1-0, 1.89) for the Dodgers.
The schedule calls for one more day off after Sunday’s fifth game of the series, if the best-of-seven goes that far.
“It was bad. It shouldn’t have happened. Our team broke the rules. And I’m sure there was some advantage gained from breaking the rules. But unfortunately, had I known about it, I would have stopped it.” Jeff Luhnow, former Astros GM