Cole looks to f inish Rays
Houston ace hasn’t lost since mid-may
All those regular-season wins for Gerrit Cole and the Houston Astros have manager AJ Hinch feeling just fine entering a winner-take-all game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night.
“They’ve got to come into our house and beat us again,” Hinch said. “With Cole on the mound, I don’t know who could be more confident than us.”
Cole will start for the Astros in the decisive Game 5 of their AL Division Series. The right-hander hasn’t lost since May 22, winning a franchise-record 17 straight decisions, capped by a 15-strikeout gem in the Astros’ Game 2 victory. He’ll try to punch Houston a ticket to its third straight AL Championship Series, and he’ll do it at home because the team won a franchise-record 107 games to earn home-field
advantage throughout the postseason.
“I love that we’re here,” Hinch said. “The way we got here is nerve-wracking just because you don’t want to get to a Game 5 ( but) we fought all year to have a better record and to win our division to get this particular game at home.”
The Astros got splendid pitching performances from Justin Verlander and Cole to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Then the Rays jumped on trade-deadline acquisition Zack Greinke for six runs in 3 2/3 innings of a 10-3 win in Game 3 before Verlander came back on short rest and took the loss in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory which evened the series. Thursday’s winner will face the AL East-champion New York Yankees.
“I do think the mentality that these guys come to the ballpark (with is), they might not be superstars, but they certainly believe they are,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
They used a parade of relievers Tuesday night but will return to a traditional starter in Game 5 with Tyler Glasnow.
Glasnow sat out from May 11-Sept. 8 with a right forearm strain and threw 76 pitches in 4 1/3 innings in a Game 1 start. Cash said he expects Glasnow to be at full strength Thursday and hopes he’ll be able to throw around 90 pitches, but that could change.
“You go in with a game plan, a thought process, but you gauge off how the ball is coming out and how they’re feeling,” he said.
Cash added that all of his pitchers will be available for Game 5, including reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who closed Game 4 in his first career relief appearance, and Charlie Morton, who started Monday.