Tampa Bay Rays v New York Yankees
Game one featured a mammoth showdown on the mound. Gerrit Cole pitched for the Yankees and Blake Snell for the Rays, but this game was anything but a pitchers duel. Snell (5IP 6H 4ER 2BB 4K 84PC 1L) wasn’t awful in this game, but he didn’t give the Rays the performance they were hoping for. Cole (6IP 6H 3ER 2BB 8K 97PC 1W) pitched a bit better than Snell to win one for the Yankees, 9-3. The Yankees bullpen pitched three shutout innings to end this game. Cole wasn’t vintage Cole, but he could pitch well enough to hold the lead and let the bullpen just end the game.
The biggest thing that killed this game for the Rays was the top of the 9th inning when the Yankees blew the game up by scoring five runs. That killed any hope the Rays had in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game. DH Giancarlo Stanton (1-4 1R 4RBI) had the big blow in the inning with his only hit. He blasted a grand slam to slam the door on the Rays and seal the game one victory.
This is going to be a long series. The Rays played well, other than the mistake they made at the top of the 9th. That is baseball, though, with two well-matched teams, one mistake can cost you the game.
Oakland Athletics v Houston Astros
This series, much like the Yankees/Rays series, is a battle between two division rivals and should make for a very competitive series. The Athletics owned the Astros during the regular season, 7-3. Still, the Astros are fresh off their huge upset of the Minnesota Twins, and they have finally started getting some production out of their big bats.
OF George Springer (4-5 1R 1RBI) was the catalyst for this offense on Monday. He was on base nearly every time he came up. SS Carlos Correa (3-5 2R 4RBI 2HR) was able to oblige the top of the order; he drove in multiple runs and two home runs. If this offense gets going, the Astros will be a really tough team to beat. The pitching has been pretty good recently, and the Astros are looking for redemption in 2020. The Astros took game one with a score of 10-5, as they stay undefeated in the playoffs.
The Athletics had plenty of opportunities to score against Astros starter Lance McCullers. Even though he didn’t make it through five innings, they needed to do more damage while McCullers was in. Once the Astros’ bullpen came in, that was the end of the Athletics offense. SP Chris Bassitt (4IP 9H 3ER 0BB 4K 73PC) was knocked around for the first time in about a month, which usually isn’t too bad as the Athletics have a dominant bullpen. But not today, the Astros also dominated the A’s bullpen.