Top-seeded Ray took a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five ALDS on Wednesday night, beating the Yankees in day-4, the second straight day. This pushes the Yankees to the brink of extinction as Reese plans to embark on his first ALCS tour since 2008. That season was the only etiquette in Reese’s franchise history and also his only trip to the league championship series.
For now, we’ll focus on what we saw in Game 3.
Morton steps
Heading into Game 3, the Yankees have played four playoff games so far in 2020. They scored 36 of 43 hits, including 13 home runs. He was collected in just four games, but he came up against the teams that started the stud pitchers: Shane Bieber, Carlos Carresco, Black Snell and Tyler Glass. So ridiculous, right? That was the order for Reese’s starter Charlie Morton to head into Game 3.
Although Mort had to navigate some rough water, he went through five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four runs. Reaching the bottom of the third, when he got Luke Watt to strand a harmless filled base (scroll down for a discussion on the two calls before Wight’s grounder).
Arozarena is completely on fire
Quick: Have you ever heard of Randy Aroze before the play starts? How before this series? The young Ray Slger Gar is still not known by casual Bezab .l fans, but he is doing it all from now on to take note. In the first two games of the series, Arozera scored 5 for 8 with a pair of homers. He started with two singles on Wednesday. In the appearance of his third plate?
Good lord, man. Someone chilled it!
It’s three straight postseason games with home running. Only 10 players have the longest streak (he joins 33 others who have played those three straight games; Full list here). Daniel Murphy’s record is six in his unforgettable 2015. Oh, let’s talk …
Stanton knocking on the door of history
Giacallo Stant scored a home run in the eighth inning.
This was the fifth straight game in the playoffs. No player has ever entered their first five playoff games in a given year, and Stanton is now just one game away from building Murphy’s record.
Rays pound tanaka, greenery
The way things went for Game 2 on the pitching end for the Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka had little pressure to match the performance of at least his counterpart, Morton. He didn’t. In the four-plus innings, Reese tagged Tanaka for five runs on eight hits, including two homers. The Yankees tied the game 1-1 and left the base loaded after a big blow to the top in the fourth. Kevin Khimeyer hit a three-run shot and Ray never looked back.
It wasn’t just Tanaka, of course. Next up was Chad Green, one of the Yankees’ most important relievers. Rays made him two runs on three hits in a working innings.
Overall, the Rays finished with 13 hits, five of which went for extra bases.
Struggle so far in the series
Luke Voight led the majors in the home race this season. He occupies the cleanup spot in one of the most powerful teams in the baseball. He slammed into Stanton as he sat behind DJ Le Maihiu, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks. I think it’s an important place we all could agree. So far in the series, Wight has gone 1 for 11, with a surprising 10 men remaining on base. He’s not really cleaning anything up.
The order shows the depth of the rays below
On the flip side, Ren received six RBIs from 8-9 places in the order. We have already mentioned a three-run shot from Kiermer. It was in eight holes. Backup catcher Michael Perez was the ninth hit with his first start since September 27th. The first run of the game was Perez’s RBI single. In the sixth, Perez gave Ren some breathing room by hitting a two-run homer.
Main calls
Some calls from home plate umpire Mark Carlson were attracting Yankees fans before Renee pulled in early in the game. Full story here.
Below is a game-update from the victory of the rays.
Total coffee specialist. Hardcore reader. Incurable music scholar. Web guru. Freelance troublemaker. Problem solver. Travel trailblazer.
