Rays ALDS Game 3 Recap

Nice win today and great team effort! Rays stay alive to fight again tomorrow!

Playing at the Trop was definitely a plus, nice to see all those yellow rally flags and hear the cowbells.

However, home field advantage is not something the Rays need to rely on, as they had the same record away and at home this season (43-33). Plus, they seemed to be playing well in both Oakland and Houston. However, Astros have won 74% of games at home and 58% of games away, which is a big difference.

The last time Greinke pitched at the Trop (and only time he faced the Rays this season), he gave up 6 hits and 5 runs. It appeared as if Greinke might have had a slight advantage in today’s game though, because the umpire called low strikes, and Greinke loves pitching all over the bottom of the zone.

While Greinke pitched well, a few missed change-ups that ended up in the middle of the zone lead to disaster by home run (see below).

Kiermaier finally contributed (previously 1 for 11 in postseason) hitting a three run home-run to give the Rays a 3-1 lead in the second inning. That really set the precedent for the rest of the game. Rays offense came alive shortly after that, piling up the runs. It always helps to get an early lead, especially against Houston.

Charlie Morton ran his pitch count up very quickly. He threw about 30 pitches in the first, and gave up a home run to Altuve. After the Rays scored 8 runs after the 4th however, he seemed to really settle in and execute the best he had all game for his final inning. He finished with a stat line of 5 IP 9 K 2 BB 1 ER. Morton is an incredible pitcher and has a calm mound presence. He’s definitely been a guy the Rays can count on in any situation. Check out this really cool overlay of his fastball and curveball (how do people hit this??):

Chaz Roe followed Morton and came in the 6th inning. He gave up 3 consecutive hits, scoring two runs. He’s a right handed specialist, and predominantly uses his sliders to get outs. But, the Astros were not chasing his sliders out of the zone, so he was forced to tempt them with pitches in, and utilize his fastball a little more than usual.

The Rays pitching in general has done an incredible job of suppressing Houston’s offense. Houston averaged 5.66 runs per game, which ranked third in the majors this season.

In other news, Yandy Diaz was replaced by Matt Duffy early in the game. He left with a sore foot. I hope the injury isn’t a big deal and doesn’t affect his performance going forward. he has been a calm, clutch hitter these past few games (especially in Oakland!). It was nice to have Matt Duffy replace him at third, as he is better than Diaz defensively, and he has also been hitting pretty well in the postseason with 3 hits in 5 at-bats.

Willy Adames ended up going 3 for 3 and was a triple away from the cycle. He did really well today, I would love to see him keep it up and continue that offensive performance tomorrow.

A really important part of today’s game was that the Rays didn’t need to use their best bullpen arms because of their large lead. They want to throw a bullpen day tomorrow, so saving guys like Anderson, Castillo and Pagan is huge for the Rays. They can come in fresh tomorrow and ready to go.

Also, the runs that were scored later in the game by the Rays are not useless by any means. The Astros are a great offensive team and it’s better to be safe than sorry. More runs certainly can’t hurt, and they help boost the Rays’ mentality. They know they are capable of exploding, and 10 runs is a huge confidence boost.

It was also nice to see the entire Rays team contribute to this win. Everyone played their part and it was so nice to watch. Tomorrow they will be facing Verlander again, though he will be on short rest. Hopefully since they just saw him, and he is pitching on less rest than usual, he will be off his game and they can get to him early.

Let’s keep it going one game at a time, I don’t want the Rays’ season to end yet. On to game 4!