Rough opening night: Rays use opener, get burned in Game 4
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manager Kevin Cash and the Tampa Bay Rays introduced the concept of an opener to modern baseball two years ago.
With a chance to close out their AL Division Series against the Yankees on Thursday night, they were bitten by their own creation.
The Rays fell behind in the second inning of Game 4 and never caught up after rookie opener Ryan Thompson gave up two hits, three walks and two runs over 1 2/3 innings in just his second career start.
The Rays couldn’t come back in a 5-1 loss in San Diego, their homer-happy lineup limited to just three hits by a sublime collective pitching performance from the Yankees.
But just as New York almost certainly regretted using an opener in Game 2 when Deivi García and J.A. Happ both got tagged, the Rays are probably wishing they had simply allowed Ryan Yarbrough to start instead of opening with Thompson, a 28-year-old right-handed reliever appearing in his third career playoff game.
Game 5 is likely to be much less complicated: Although neither manager disclosed his plans for the winner-take-all showdown before Game 4, it seems likely to be a rematch of Game 1 with aces Gerrit Cole and Blake Snell on the mound.
But with a chance to advance to the ALCS for only the second time in franchise history and the first since 2008, Tampa Bay stumbled from the start in Game 4 at Petco Park.
DJ Lemahieu led off the game with a single for New York before Thompson got the next three batters. But Tampa Bay stuck with Thompson in the second inning, and the Yankees pounced.