USA TODAY International Edition
Rays, Cards extend series
The Rays and the Cardinals will live to play another day in this year’s MLB postseason.
❚ Tampa Bay jumped on Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke to win 10- 3 Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to send the AL Division Series to a fourth game Tuesday.
❚ St. Louis beat the Braves 5- 4 in dramatic, walk- off fashion in the 10th inning at home to even the NL Division Series at two games apiece. The victory sets up a winner- take- all Game 5 on Wednesday at SunTrust Park in Atlanta.
ALDS: Rays turn on power
The Rays jumped on Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke, who lasted 32⁄ innings, giving up six runs on 61 pitches. 3
Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier got things started with a threerun shot off Greinke in the second inning, with Ji- Man Choi and Brendan Lowe adding solo home runs in the third and fourth.
Rays starter Charlie Morton was dominant against his former team, giving up one run with nine strikeouts in five innings.
Astros manager A. J. Hinch announced that Justin Verlander will start Tuesday’s Game 4 on three days’ rest. Verlander threw seven scoreless innings in a Game 1 win.
“Five- game series are pretty crazy. You never know what can happen,” Verlander said postgame. “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket and say ‘ well if we lose tomorrow we’ve got Justin and Gerrit ( Cole) for Game 5.’ ”
Turning point: With a runner on second base and two outs in the second inning, Greinke hit Travis d’Arnaud with a 1- 1 fastball, bringing Kiermaier to the plate. Greinke fell behind 2- 0 and then left a change- up up in the zone, which the center fielder crushed to center field for a three- run homer. All three homers surrendered by the 35- year- old Greinke were on secondary pitches – changeups to Kiermaier and Choi and a curveball for Lowe. Tampa Bay batted around in that fourth inning, scoring four runs.
State of the series: The Astros get another chance to close things out on the road Tuesday, but it’s not going to be a straightforward game. Tampa Bay is expected to do a bullpen game, though Game 1 starter Tyler Glasnow might be available to throw a few innings.
NLDS: Cardinals rally
Yadier Molina came through not once, but twice for the Cardinals. He hit a tying single in the eighth inning and drove in the winning run in the 10th on a sacrifice fly off Julio Teheran.
Second baseman Kolten Wong led off the 10th inning with a ground- rule double off Teheran. After Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked, Wong advanced to third on Marcell Ozuna’s forceout. Then it was Molina time. The 37- year- old hit a deep fly ball to left that scored Wong to end the game.
This time it was the Cardinals who got the last laugh in front of a frenzied home crowd at Busch Stadium, unlike in Game 4 when the Braves rallied for three runs in the ninth inning.
Turning point: In a game of inches, the Cardinals squeezed out a run with two outs in the eighth off reliever Shane Greene. The Cardinals tied the score when Molina hit a flare over the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman – who is 6- 4 – scoring Goldschmidt.
State of the series: For the winnertake- all Game 5, the Cardinals are expected to start Game 2 starter Jack Flaherty, one of the majors’ best pitchers in the second half of the season. The Braves will turn to Mike Foltynewicz, who rediscovered his form upon his return from a minor league stint, going 6- 1 with a 2.65 ERA in 10 starts since Aug. 5.