ALDS even after rare slipup by Rays' bullpen

ST. PETERSBURG -- With their inexperienced rotation unlikely to work deep into games, the Rays knew they’d have to lean on their deep and versatile group of relievers in the postseason. The plan worked throughout the regular season, as Tampa Bay’s American League-best bullpen functioned without a traditional closer or set roles. Manager Kevin Cash could call on any reliever at any time, and every one of them would get outs.

But the Rays’ relief corps stumbled early and often following rookie Shane Baz’s short start Friday night at Tropicana Field, giving up an early lead then letting Game 2 of the American League Division Series get out of hand in an eventual 14-6 loss to the Red Sox.

“We knew coming in they have a very talented offense,” Cash said. “They just put together a lot of at-bats, quality at-bats, consecutive with guys on base, and just kind of put it to us tonight.”

After Shane McClanahan and three relievers pitched a shutout in Game 1, six Rays pitchers combined to allow 14 runs on 20 hits and five homers, all club postseason records. Tampa Bay was the first team since Boston in Game 3 of the 2004 AL Championship Series, and only the eighth in AL/NL history, to give up at least 20 hits in a postseason game.

• In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams that have split the first two games in their opponent’s home ballpark, before returning home for Game 3, have gone on to win the series 23 of 36 times (64%). This excludes 2020 (DS played at neutral sites).

After Baz exited in the third inning of his postseason debut, Collin McHugh and Matt Wisler -- two of Tampa Bay’s more reliable relievers this season -- coughed up the lead by allowing five runs. Meanwhile, two of the Rays’ other top arms, Andrew Kittredge and Pete Fairbanks, didn’t touch the mound as the game slipped away.

“They put good swings on the ball, but we have to execute better as a staff,” McHugh said. “I have to execute better personally, and I feel confident in our ability to do so.”

With only three big league starts to his name before he took the mound Friday, Baz looked shaky in the first inning. He walked Kyle Schwarber, Boston’s leadoff hitter, on four pitches then gave up a single to Kiké Hernández. After striking out Rafael Devers, Baz allowed three straight hits to Xander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez to put the Rays in a two-run hole.

“They ambushed him with quality at-bats, but I felt like mentally he was totally fine,” Cash said of Baz. “It was just maybe a lack of execution on some pitches. … The stuff looked really good, but again, it's the Red Sox's lineup that deserves a lot of credit.”

The Rays climbed out of that hole, knocking out Red Sox starter Chris Sale after just one seemingly triumphant inning. Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco singled, Nelson Cruz walked and Yandy Díaz hit an RBI single to right field. Up came Jordan Luplow, who unloaded on a high fastball from Sale and crushed it out to left for his first career grand slam and a 5-2 Tampa Bay lead.

“He energized, in that moment, the crowd and certainly our dugout,” Cash said. “We just weren't able to hold them off.”

• Slam solidifies Luplow's ALDS roster spot

Nor were the Rays able to add on. Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck shut them down in relief of Sale, allowing just one run in five innings. It was the kind of timely, lights-out performance the Rays usually receive when they need big outs from the bullpen. Not on this night, though.

McHugh, one of the Rays’ most dependable and dominant relievers all season, immediately served up another solo homer to Alex Verdugo to make it a one-run game. McHugh then gave up the game-tying shot to Hernández in the fifth, walked Devers then gave way to Wisler. It was a wildly uncharacteristic outing for McHugh, who only allowed three homers during the regular season -- and none in a 26-outing stretch from April 7-Aug. 21.

“You get into that consistency of [thinking] he is just going to go in and induce weak contact and get his strikeouts,” Cash said. “But the Red Sox had other plans.”

They also had other plans for Wisler, another one of Cash’s preferred high-leverage arms. Wisler was excellent for the Rays this season, posting a 2.15 ERA in 27 outings, and Tampa Bay was confident the right-hander had moved beyond a middle finger injury that limited him to just one appearance from Aug. 16-Sept. 29.

But Wisler didn’t seem as sharp on Friday. He immediately allowed a single to Bogaerts, then left a 2-2 slider up in the zone that Martinez bashed out to center field for a tiebreaking three-run homer.

“He just left some breaking balls up. Every one that was hit was either above the zone or right at the top of the zone,” Cash said. “Ideally, that's not where you are throwing breaking balls to that grouping of hitters that he faced, and they made us pay for it.”

After that, Cash felt the game was far enough out of hand that it would be better to preserve relievers like Kittredge and Fairbanks for Games 3 and 4, especially since the Rays will likely have to run a bullpen game on one day with Drew Rasmussen the other. So right-hander Michael Wacha, brought in to cover the final three innings, gave up six runs on nine hits and needed JT Chargois to come in for the final out of the ninth.

Now the Rays are off to Fenway Park with an off-day Saturday, the series tied and a bullpen in need of a bounce-back.

“You know they're going to have a packed stadium with great fans, and we're embracing that challenge and that adversity,” catcher Mike Zunino said. “But I think [if] we go out there and regroup and go out and play our style of game, we'll be fine.”