Rayswillneedtocleanuptheiract
SAN DIEGO — With three consecutive losses in the American League Championship Series, the Rays are on the brink of an extremely regrettable bit of baseball history.
Unlike the 2004 Yankees, the Rays still have a chance to avoid a flop that will follow them forever.
The Rays and Astros 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, 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 the Astros 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 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.
The Rays made up for their ordinary offense throughout the season with excellent pitching and defense, but they stumbled in both aspects in Game 6. The precision that has come to define the Rays — in their fielding, theirmoundwork and their tactical decisions— is in disarray.
“I’ve seen these guys play such clean baseball over and over,” manager Kevin 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-oldMorton on the mound in Game 7. Morton pitched two seasons and won a World Series ring with the Astros before joining the Rays last year.
Morton pitched the final four innings of the Astros’ Game 7 World Series victory over the Dodgers three years ago. That game was started by Lance McCullers Jr., who will start again for the Astros in San Diego on Saturday.
“The quicker we can get off this loss we just had, the quicker the better, and just use it as motivation,” Morton said.
The bullpen that has been dominant throughout October — the “stable full of guys that throw 98 miles an hour,” as Cash memorably described them in September — allowed both of its inherited runners to score in Game 6 and went on to give up five more runs.
Rays relievers had stranded all 21 runners they inherited this postseason before that.
Cash had to use five relievers just to finish the game, meaning his once-rested bullpen got plenty of work.