MILWAUKEE -- When the bullpen door swung open at American Family Field on Friday night, the best the Brewers had to offer came trotting out.
When Jacob Misiorowski exited the game with a lead after five innings, they turned to Abner Uribe for four outs, Aaron Ashby for five and closer Trevor Megill for the last three. Their other high-leverage weapon, DL Hall, warmed up to face a potential left-handed pinch-hitter but never got in the game.
Playing from behind all night, the Rays took a slightly different approach in their 3-2 loss to the Brewers in Game 1 of the World Series. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t attempt to chase a deficit, even a narrow one, with top lefty Cam Booser, setup man Tyler Wells or closer Bryan Baker.
Instead, Cash turned to a different group of relievers: veteran lefty Steven Matz, right-hander Kevin Kelly, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger and veteran Cole Sulser.
It wouldn’t be fair to call them lower-leverage arms, because the Rays have shown a willingness to use anyone at any point of the game, but aside from Kelly, that quartet hasn’t been tasked with many high-leverage situations this month. Matz and Sulser had only pitched once in the postseason, and Cleavinger hadn’t pitched in an official game since Sept. 4.
They pitched well as a unit, allowing just one run in three innings. What wound up being the game-winning run scored in the seventh, when Matz returned for a second inning of work and issued a leadoff walk before Kelly surrendered a two-out RBI single to Jackson Chourio.
“I felt like our bullpen came in and did a really nice job,” Cash said. “Chourio hits a ball right by [Jonathan] Aranda. Other than that, for them to navigate through those innings where they had some traffic, that was good for us.”
The question now is whether the Rays can actually stand to benefit from the way the bullpens were deployed in Game 1.
But how, you might ask? Consider two factors.
First: The Rays got a long look at the Brewers’ best relievers. Uribe faced four batters, Ashby saw five and Megill faced six while giving up a run in the ninth. And Tampa Bay believes that there is a cost to exposing certain relievers to the same opposing hitters multiple times over the course of a long series like this one.
The hitters who saw that trio on Friday night could see them again on Saturday. Perhaps even Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, too. When presented with familiar matchups over and over again, many people in the industry believe it tends to favor the hitters -- like a times-through-the-order penalty for starters, but playing out over the course of days rather than innings.
“There's some benefit, maybe, from a loss. We saw Ashby. We saw Uribe. We saw Megill,” Cash said. “I'd like to think that's going to help us moving forward a little bit.”
On the other hand: The Rays didn’t burn Baker, Booser, Wells, Ian Seymour or a starter in relief (like Freddy Peralta or Griffin Jax) in a game they would have had a hard time winning with only two runs scored. Matz had to throw 31 pitches to get five outs, but Kelly only faced four batters (while throwing 12 pitches), Cleavinger faced three (10 pitches) and Sulser faced one (four pitches).
Their top arms will be ready to go behind ace Drew Rasmussen in Game 2 on Saturday night, and they will present an unfamiliar look for whichever Brewers hitters they face.
Will it work in the Rays’ favor? We’ll find out.
“I think times seen, it matters,” Cash said. “I don't know how much you can quantify for it, but it certainly matters to some degree.”