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POSTGAME REACTION: Guardians drop Game 2 to Rays 3-1, ALCS now even 1-1
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00:00Guardians losers by a final score of three to one in game two of the ALCS and I'm now joined
00:08as we get all of this reaction by our Cleveland sports beat reporter Daryl Ryder brought to you courtesy of
00:13Scheiben Jewelers Cleveland's premier jewelry store Daryl an ugly game where the Guardians give up zero earned runs across the
00:23game and still end up losers in this one.
00:26They kind of it I mean offense isn't great but this one feels like a heartbreaking fashion in a lot
00:32of ways.
00:33Yeah they had one bad inning and their superstar Jose Ramirez had a very uncharacteristic bad inning as well a
00:42mental mistake followed by a physical error it leads to three Tampa Bay unearned runs and that's the difference in
00:53the game unfortunately.
00:54So that's just ultimately the way this one played out in the postseason your margin for error is slim to
01:01none a team like the Tampa Bay Rays it is a very very tight and so yeah it's very very
01:08unfortunate that the Guardians come up short and now this series comes back to Cleveland tied up at a game
01:13of peace.
01:13I mean they're obviously like a right you take the loss in stride it's one to one at the end
01:19of the day if we would have said that they were going to Tampa Bay to play two games goal
01:24would have been get back to Cleveland today the series tied at one right.
01:27Right yeah absolutely I mean mission was accomplished last night with that game one victory obviously try and get a
01:33little greedy and take both games come home up two games to none.
01:36But you just wanted to get one down there in Tampa Bay now you got to come home and you
01:43hope to take two or three and if you can take two of three now all of a sudden you're
01:47you're feeling really good going back to Tampa Bay only needing one of the final two to make your way
01:52on to the World Series.
01:53So yeah it's you know just one of those situations where they had an off inning you know at least
02:03you know from a pitching slash defensive side of things at the plate there were a couple of bad at
02:09bats as well but you know that seventh inning really really sticks out it's just the little things in the
02:17game right.
02:18You get you know Chandler Simpson with that you know grounder to Rokio nobody covered the bag at third I
02:28got to put that on Jose Ramirez you know and and so that lets Victor Mesa get the third you
02:35know then you know Williamson reaches on that you know fielding error by Jose that allows the first run to
02:44score you end up with runners at second and third and then
02:48you know you know very quickly Liam Hicks gets the two run single and all of a sudden it's three
02:53nothing raise there and unfortunately that ultimately you know ends up being the difference there in the bottom of the
03:01fourth inning.
03:02Yeah I mean I don't know if I'm going too far in saying this like the offense obviously didn't produce
03:06the way that you would expect the need to produce to win a postseason game they scored one run but
03:12at the same time I feel like with respect to the game right like this is not a knock to
03:17Jose is a player and obviously what he's done over the course of the last four games previous to this
03:22but I think it's fair to say that Jose Ramirez kind of cost you this game.
03:26Yeah he's not immune from criticism he's a great ball player right and that's why I said it's it's it's
03:31very uncharacteristic for him to not only have a mental error but then to immediately follow that up with a
03:39ball that just went right between the legs.
03:41Yeah I mean that was Bill Buckner-esque right there now that the stakes were a little different but yeah
03:49I mean just went right through the wickets into left field and that that really ignited the raise and unfortunately
03:55they end up getting three runs as a result of that and that's why all three runs ended up being
04:02unearned because they should have been out of the inning.
04:04You could also make an argument that Austin Hedges probably should have challenged a third strike call in that inning
04:11as well and maybe they get out of it with less damage too but yeah one bad half inning they're
04:19in the fourth inning and that just really really bit them in the backside and there are plenty of time
04:23for the guards to catch up but not able to do a whole lot offensively.
04:29They really their you know their best innings came in the seventh inning well when they you know scored their
04:35only run unfortunately you know a little bit of a two-out rally there and you're as Stephen Vogt likes
04:41to talk about a little too deep into the inning to really get something you can sustain and yeah unfortunately
04:48like I said you get one bad half inning and that's how it goes in the postseason the margin for
04:54error is paper thin.
04:55Yeah you just can't have moments like that and expect to walk away and I think this series is kind
05:01of epitomized by that right like I know you can chalk up baseball the team that makes less mistakes ends
05:06up winning the game right like they tell that to kids all the way down playing like a you baseball
05:11and it does remain true in a lot of times when we talk all the way up to the major
05:15leagues but I think especially in a series like this where you once again see two pitchers have pretty strong
05:20nights like Parker I thought had a pretty good night obviously Freddie Peralta pitched out of his mind the way
05:25that
05:25has pretty much through the month of September up until now and it legitimately is a single mistake one ball
05:33getting away from Jose Ramirez kind of at the end of the day that I mean you watched it bury
05:38this team in live time because you know there's going to be good pitching it this was a display on
05:43what the raised bullpen legitimately is maybe more so than game one is and this is going to be a
05:49game decided by runs this series probably will see a lot of games end up going you know
05:55four to three three to two the way that we talk about guardians winning playoff games so you just can't
06:01afford like a ball going between your legs if it starts an inning that's great we can recover but to
06:06be in that moment where that's a get you out of the inning get Parker back into the dugout and
06:11have this team feeling good that's where it legitimately cannot happen yeah you know Parker was really good tonight you
06:17got five innings out of him you know the three runs allowed none of them though were earned because of
06:23again of that
06:24disastrous bottom of the fourth loud six hits walk to struck out three you know wasn't his crispest you know
06:33through 82 pitches just 47 of those for strikes you like that ball to strike ratio to be a little
06:40steeper there but you got what you needed out of him but also let's give the the Tampa Bay Rays
06:46credit
06:47uh Freddy Peralta six innings uh goose eggs across four hits two walks six strikeouts you had a couple innings
06:55too where you worked them really good I think he had like to they made him throw like 24-25
07:00pitches there in the second inning they followed that up with another 20 pitch inning offensively just they just seem
07:07to be like starting to wear him down a little bit but they just could never really punch through against
07:12Peralta
07:13and Daryl this is a kind of when we see the the Guardians end up a little bit short the
07:18theme of the the nights that end up happening there this is a team tonight that failed to score with
07:24runners in scoring position like they they got guys on base they had six opportunities more opportunities than the Rays
07:29had with runners in scoring position and they come up one for six and obviously the one that hurts extra
07:34is that you talk about that two out rally and chase the water keeps it going you're able to put
07:39a run on the board and then with runners on second and third
07:41uh Joe Adele came to the plate obviously played a good impact you know in last night's game driving in
07:47the two runs late but he stepped up to the plate there and with a massive opportunity a single ties
07:54the game right yeah you have speed on second base and you walk away from it Joe Adele kind of
08:00put up a almost looked like I was trying to do too much non-competitive at that yeah um like
08:06you said one for six with runners in scoring position they left nine men
08:09uh on base tonight um you know um you know um you know like you said you know um they
08:17just they they couldn't get the big hit um like they did last night like they've gotten the you know
08:23the previous uh three games uh or I should say four games rather that they were able to win and
08:29look that's gonna happen now this thing comes back to Cleveland and uh you know hopefully uh the offense well
08:37they get to you know take take a deep breath
08:39Gavin Williams is gonna be on the mound Thursday uh late afternoon there and uh you know hopefully this offense
08:45kind of gets back on track but um yeah just you know the the guys that you expect to to
08:52really produce I mean you got uh you know Stephen Kwan I thought did a pretty decent job at the
08:57top of the lineup got a couple of hits tonight to get on base chase the water uh was one
09:03for two at the plate with a couple of walks but then you go down the rest of that lineup
09:08and well
09:09Travis Bazzana and and and and and Halpin uh the only other guys that got hits goose eggs from pretty
09:15much uh you know everybody else uh you know Austin Hedges you weren't really expecting he was gonna give you
09:22a whole lot uh offensively uh Rokio and 0 for 4 night uh at uh at short so yeah um
09:30you know again credit Tampa Bay they they you know scattered the six hits that's kind of how I would
09:36probably term this one tonight
09:38uh when you're talking about the raise and you're talking about their you know their pitching they they scattered the
09:43hits they scattered the walks what little trouble they got into they were able to work their way out of
09:48um you know that's that again that's a real good ball club over there and and they got a really
09:54good pitching staff too just like the Guardians and that's why I think this series it it's gonna go six
10:00or seven like buckle up we're you know we're not gonna be done talking about I don't think uh you
10:05know a Guardians loss or two hopefully not
10:08three uh but um I do think this is gonna be a very long series because I feel like these
10:13two teams are so evenly matched they are in a lot of ways and they're built very similarly I like
10:18that you point out the bottom of the lineup because
10:20we obviously saw the switch out there the vote has made on how Martinez has not been putting together enough
10:26good at bats right uh so Petey Halpin has taken over and Petey's took that a you know assignment in
10:32stride
10:32yeah Brian Rocchio I don't know who you would play at shortstop because you really don't have much of a
10:38backup shortstop available on this roster
10:40on hell now is much better as a second baseman Bazana cannot play short
10:45Brian Rocchio went from hitting to a like 284 in the month of September and where we always talk about
10:50you know he turns it on he did in the last month of the season
10:53but you can count on him in October to come up with big hits uh Daryl he's hitting under a
10:57buck right now
10:58that's not good like we have played uh seven games in the postseason the man's hitting 091
11:04yeah but I mean Lionel Martinez isn't even on the interstate
11:10Austin Hedges Austin Hedges doesn't have a batting average so um yeah when you're when when you're in
11:18this condensed postseason the batting averages you know tend to not look all that uh great if you're not
11:23getting a lot of hits but uh you know I'm gonna look at the bright side top half of the
11:27lineups get
11:28you know the averages are a lot better than they were in the regular season right um but you you
11:36just
11:36like uh at a couple of spots to maybe get a little more punch and you know um I understand
11:42they look
11:43listen they they wanted Austin Hedges uh defensively uh out there to work with Parker Messick they they're
11:49kind of a battery there so you don't want to mess that up um you know but you sacrifice something
11:55offensively you know with Austin you're just you know going in if you can get a hit from him great
12:01if you can get him to to walk great right uh get him on base at least once in the
12:06game you're great
12:07but you know Hedgie unfortunately unable not to do much of anything uh at the plate but again you know
12:14that going in Austin Hedges is not in your lineup because uh he tears the cover off the ball he's
12:19in
12:19your lineup to manage uh your young rookie pitcher who happened to be pitching in front of the hometown
12:25crowd in game two of the American League Championship Series now he's he's pitched at the trot before but
12:31not on that stage so um and you know you you mentioned you know uh bringing in you know that
12:39well Halpin you know starts in center field and the Angel Martinez ready to go to to come off the
12:45bench and you know he he goes ahead and you know he pinch hits and and and strikes out uh
12:51in a spot
12:52and and yeah so yeah I mean the bottom of all you expect the bottom of your lineup to be
12:57the weak
12:57link um you really do um I I again I'm gonna give Tampa Bay's pitching the credit here uh for
13:05throwing
13:06the baseball really really well and capitalize and then give the race offense uh you know credit
13:12for really capitalizing on one bad half inning because you know how that it'd be easier to say
13:18here we'd be talking about the Guardians winning this game one to nothing if if it were not for that
13:22bottom of the fourth inning like and I guess that's also kind of tough when when those words fall out
13:27of
13:27my mouth that's tough pill to swallow too Jake I mean they they could have won this game one to
13:33nothing
13:33had they had their act together uh there in the bottom of the fourth inning and uh you know not
13:41had the mental breakdown and then obviously uh the physical wear and then right after that bang uh you
13:47give up a base hit and all of a sudden in the blink of an eye you go from a
13:50tight scoreless game all
13:51of a sudden now it's three nothing you're digging yourself out of yet another hole but I gotta be honest
13:58with you I was I was kind of confident that the Guardians were gonna come back because we we see
14:05them uh digging themselves holes in games and it doesn't phase them which is good uh I just wish
14:11they'd make life easier on themselves they did that in this series they started out 1-0 um but um
14:18you
14:18know tonight they did not make life easy on themselves they they dug themselves a hole uh that they just
14:25quite frankly could not get out of Daryl I hate to make a on the nose comparison to the Browns
14:29but
14:30like we talk about this team like this is the Deshaun Watson leading game-winning drives right
14:35like a you're gonna consistently put them in that spot over and over and over again Guardians are
14:39gonna dig a hole over and over again yeah like Deshaun might lead you on three game-winning drives
14:43but at some point like it's not just because it's Deshaun Watson it's not just because it's the
14:48Guardians offense anything is going to give at that point you put Patrick Mahomes or you put the New York
14:52Yankees or the LA Dodgers in that spot eventually it's not going to come through and work it for
14:57you you have to stop digging yourself a hole in the beginning of the games and the Guardians front
15:02yes good pitching by the Rays obviously that's a really strong group that's not an excuse for this
15:07team not to manufacture runs off of starters for an entire series either yeah and I mean I
15:13I always chuckle when we compare anything Guardians related to the Browns right because of the level
15:19it was too it was too on the nose I couldn't avoid it the the disparity in the levels of
15:23success that
15:24these two franchises have on a regular basis um they could not be any more opposite but yeah I mean
15:30you're right you know at some point uh the chickens come home to roost right and um you know you
15:36hope
15:37that now coming back to Cleveland they forget about this thing uh and you know they you know they come
15:43out with their hair on fire and take back control of this series interesting note uh Major League
15:49Baseball put this out before the game tonight that teams that hold home field advantage in a seven game
15:56series that split the first two games on their home field they go on to win this series uh about
16:0154%
16:02of the time 55 of 102 so what does that tell you Guardians have a pretty darn good chance to
16:09still win
16:09this series yeah it puts him in a really good spot I will say you brought up Austin Hedges the
16:14Patrick
16:14Bailey situation earlier today I saw a lot of people uh getting worked up on social media about this uh
16:19because obviously Bailey's been swinging the bat well Austin Hedges in there and you laid it out
16:23perfectly like Parker Messick wants Austin Hedges to catch him he's caught him all year uh he's put
16:28together a Cy Young bid campaign with Austin Hedges catching him like Parker Messick is going to want the
16:35guy to catch him he's going to be in the lineup it's the eight hole of your lineup like we
16:39can't get
16:39worked up about the fact that Austin Hedges is going to be in the game especially in this series
16:42I mean would I rather have Parker comfortable or Patrick Bailey in the eight hole of my lineup like
16:48Patrick's good in a series like this I'd rather have my pitcher as comfortable as possible feeling
16:53confident and with the good connection he has with his catcher yeah a hundred percent and and again
16:58um that that's why I wasn't critical of that decision that Stephen Volba and here's the other thing
17:03too you have to stay true to yourself in the postseason okay and they've done this all year long
17:08and you've got Patrick Bailey on the bench so when you do go to the bullpen he comes in in
17:12a pinch hit
17:13situation or just as a defensive replacement to work the bullpen and have that bat late in the game
17:18and guess what that's exactly what Stephen Volba did tonight so yes I I get the frustration that some
17:25fans have when it comes to Austin Hedges offense and his lack of consistent production there but
17:30again you can't change what you do how you do it when you've been so successful already just because
17:39you're in the American League Championship Series bottom line uh it's like a caddy in golf right that's
17:45how I look at it Austin Hedges is Parker Messick's caddy he's gonna be in the lineup okay and you
17:51know
17:51what there's eight other guys in the lineup that could have picked it up tonight this isn't just an
17:56Austin Hedges thing right there were other guys that uh you know were up in critical situations
18:01and unable uh to come through in those spots not Austin Hedges so yeah it's easy to point at Hedgy
18:08there but he means so much uh behind the plate he means so much uh in that clubhouse as well
18:15um and
18:16even in the you know obviously the dugout during games and whatnot with his leadership that yeah I I it's
18:22very difficult for me to sit here and nitpick that lineup decision by Stephen Vogt because again
18:28he managed it exactly how he managed it throughout the regular season and hey Austin Hedges got on
18:35base took him getting hit in the back elbow to get on base but he got on base you know
18:38what listen uh
18:39I gotta tell you um you know just what steal the old line from Moneyball do I care how he
18:44gets on base
18:45the answer we're looking for is no I do not as long as he gets on base right yeah I
18:51hit by pitch
18:52or a walk as good as a base hit so um but yeah I just like I said I'm not
18:57going to get all worked
18:58up over that lineup decision because again Patrick Bailey went uh in the game uh as soon as uh Messick
19:05uh in his night was done