Tampa Bay Rays v New York Yankees (Series tied 2-2)
I thought this series would be one of the few divisional round series to make it to game five. On Friday night, the Yankees and the Rays treated baseball fans to a great closeout game between these two divisional rivals. The Rays sent SP Tyler Glasnow on only two days of rest. The Yankees countered with their big offseason acquisition, SP Gerrit Cole, who had just pitched three days before. The game was an all-out pitchers duel, but the Rays were able to push across two runs to eliminate the Yankees with a final score of 2-1.
Gerrit Cole (5.1IP 1H 1ER 2BB 9K 94PC) gave everything he had in this game. Although he made the mistake of giving up a solo home run to OF Austin Meadows. In a game of this magnitude, that was enough to change the tide of the game. In the 8th inning, RP Aroldis Chapman (1.1 1H 1ER 0BB 2K 1L) gave up the season-ending run. This is the second time in a row that the Yankees were eliminated on his watch. I’m not saying that Chapman is done, but the New York media is going to be all over him after this latest loss.
OF Aaron Judge was the only Yankee able to provide any offense on Friday night. He hit a home run in the 4th inning to give the Yankees the lead. Judge had struggled earlier in this series but stepped up for the Yankees, although not enough to win the game. The Yankees will still be very good next season as the majority of this team will return. And it’s the Yankees; they have zero issues going out to sign whoever they feel they need to boost their competitiveness.
Tyler Glasnow (2.1IP 0H 0ER 2BB 2K 37PC) did exactly what the Rays needed. He went through the first nine batters without giving up any runs. The Rays then unleashed their bullpen (6.2IP 3H 1ER 2BB 9K 101PC) in the exact order to take down the Yankees’ offense. OF Austin Meadows and 1B Mike Brosseau was all the offense the Rays needed; they both blasted solo home runs to win the game.
1B Ji-Man Choi got the start over Brosseau because he has been red hot against Cole. As soon as the Yankees pulled Cole, The Rays put in Brosseau. Brosseau hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 8th to send the Rays to the ALCS.