CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians missed their chance to take command of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night, falling 7-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 at Progressive Field. The loss, in a game pushed back a day by Friday's rainout, evens the best-of-seven series at two games apiece and turns the ALCS into a best-of-three the rest of the way.
Cleveland struck first in the bottom of the first inning, when Steven Kwan led off with a single, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Chase DeLauter's sharp single to right off Rays starter Nick Martinez. Martinez settled in from there, holding the Guardians to one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings, and Tampa Bay tied the game in the third when Yandy Diaz doubled and Jonathan Aranda singled him home.
The game turned in the sixth and seventh innings. Junior Caminero lined a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth to put Tampa Bay in front 2-1, and the Rays broke it open with three runs in the seventh, an inning helped along by a fielding error from second baseman Travis Bazzana and a misplay in right field by DeLauter. Aranda finished with three hits and drove in runs in both big innings, and the Rays' top of the order — quiet through the first three games — combined for five RBIs on the night.
Cleveland answered in the bottom of the seventh, when Bazzana hit the first playoff home run of his career and Brayan Rocchio added an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-3. The Guardians threatened again in the eighth, when pinch-hitter David Fry drove a ball deep with a runner on — but the shot went foul, and Fry struck out swinging to end the inning.
Diaz closed the door in the ninth with a two-run home run that pushed the margin to 7-3 and guaranteed the series will return to Florida. Cleveland left five runners on base and, for the first time in the series, hurt itself defensively on plays it has made all October. "A couple unfortunate plays for us tonight that we usually complete and just weren't able to do it," manager Stephen Vogt said afterward.
Vogt, though, refused to treat the loss as a turning point against his club. "We're great. We're right in it. We're even," he said. "Again, now it's a three-game series, and I put our guys up against any team in the world in a three-game series. Of course we would have loved to have taken a 3-1 lead tonight, but it's not in the cards. We just show up ready to play a good Game 5 and have a happy flight to Tampa."
That Game 5 arrives quickly: first pitch is 5:08 p.m. Sunday at Progressive Field, the last game of the series in Cleveland. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for the Guardians opposite Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen. The winner takes a 3-2 lead to Tampa Bay, where Game 6 is scheduled for Monday — with a trip to the World Series on the line.