The Cleveland Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday at Tropicana Field.
The sharpest detail is the shape of the comeback, because Cleveland scored all seven of its runs over the final four innings after Tampa Bay led 2-0 in the first.
Two Down Early, Seven Late
Tampa Bay started like a team that had not lost yet in this postseason. Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca delivered RBI singles in the first inning for a 2-0 lead, and the Rays, who had swept the Yankees in the ALDS, were in front in front of their home crowd. Cleveland’s answer took time to arrive, and then it arrived in stages.
Chase DeLauter homered in the sixth inning and Patrick Bailey homered in the seventh to tie the game 2-2. Those two swings changed the pressure completely. Tampa Bay’s early lead was gone, Cleveland’s lineup had found its timing, and the final innings belonged to the visitors. Cleveland finished with 14 hits, a total built by a lineup that kept producing chances long after its quiet start.
Lowe Breaks The Tie In The Eighth
Nathaniel Lowe broke the tie with a two run single in the eighth inning, scoring Jose Ramirez and DeLauter to give Cleveland a 4-2 lead. Cedric Mullins homered for Tampa Bay in the eighth to keep the Rays close, but Cleveland finished the argument in the ninth. Ramirez drove in a run with his third hit of the night, his fourth straight playoff game with an RBI, and Jo Adell added a two run double that pushed the final score to 7-3.
Lowe explained afterward what had changed for this lineup compared with its earlier playoff games:
“It feels good to see some balls fall, to see some guys get on the barrel, to see some guys have some great at-bats, because the first two games of the White Sox series, we got beat.” Nathaniel Lowe, Associated Press via NewsLooks
That White Sox series is the road Cleveland took to get here, from the rally in Guardians Rally Past White Sox, Force Decider to the shutout that finished it in Guardians Blank White Sox To Complete Comeback. A team that was two games down in the ALDS is now one game up in the ALCS.
By The Numbers
- Final score: Cleveland Guardians 7, Tampa Bay Rays 3, ALCS Game 1 at Tropicana Field on Oct. 12
- Tampa Bay led 2-0 in the first inning on RBI singles by Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca
- Cleveland scored all seven runs over the final four innings and finished with 14 hits
- Chase DeLauter homered in the sixth and Patrick Bailey homered in the seventh to tie the game
- Nathaniel Lowe broke the tie with a two run single in the eighth inning
- Jose Ramirez had three hits and an RBI in his fourth straight playoff game with an RBI
The distribution of Cleveland’s offence is worth noting as well. The Guardians did not ride one hot bat to this win. DeLauter and Bailey homered in consecutive innings to tie it, Lowe drove in the go ahead runs, Ramirez collected three hits, and Adell finished the scoring in the ninth. Fourteen hits spread across the lineup is a difficult problem for a pitching staff in a long series, because there is no single spot in the order where Tampa Bay can relax. Game 1 showed the Rays a lineup that got stronger as the night went on, which is a worrying sight for the home team in a series opener.
Cleveland Arrives Rolling, Tampa Bay Finally Loses
This was Cleveland’s fourth straight postseason win, and it was Tampa Bay’s first loss of the postseason after sweeping the Yankees in the ALDS. That contrast is the series in miniature after one game: the Rays carried a perfect October record into the ALCS, and the Guardians carried momentum from a comeback that started with their season nearly over against Chicago.
Cleveland now leads the series 1-0, with the next games still to be played in this series, and the Guardians have already taken Tampa Bay’s home field advantage in the opener. In the other championship series on Monday, Milwaukee beat Los Angeles 7-4 in NLCS Game 2, with William Contreras recording three hits and three RBIs. Both underdog stories of this October, Cleveland’s comeback train and Milwaukee’s run, won again on the same night, and the ALCS now asks Tampa Bay a question it has not had to answer yet this postseason: how does this team respond to a loss?
