CLEVELAND — The American League Championship Series is down to a best-of-three after the Tampa Bay Rays pulled away from the Cleveland Guardians for a 7-3 win in Game 4 on Saturday night at Progressive Field.
The game had been pushed back a day by Friday rain, and it stayed tight for most of the night. Cleveland scored first on a run-scoring single by Chase DeLauter in the opening inning, and the teams were tied 1-1 entering the sixth.
Tampa Bay moved in front after the first two hitters of the sixth drew walks, and Junior Caminero, the slugger who had struck out four times in Game 3, lined a run-scoring double into the left-field corner. Earlier in the night he had driven a ball to the deepest part of center field that Petey Halpin hauled in at the wall.
The Rays broke it open with three runs in the seventh. A ground ball by Jonathan Aranda slipped past two Cleveland defenders and rolled deep into the outfield, letting a second run come home on the play. Aranda finished with three hits, and Yandy Díaz added a two-run homer to the opposite field in the ninth.
Starter Nick Martinez gave Tampa Bay 5 1/3 innings and allowed just the first-inning run. Cleveland pushed back in the seventh with four straight two-out hits against reliever Ian Seymour, including a Travis Bazzana homer and a Brayan Rocchio single, to make it 5-3. The rally ended when Steven Kwan was thrown out on a headfirst slide into first base, a play that left him with a bloodied lip.
The win was only the third time in eight playoff games that the Rays had scored four or more runs, and it guarantees the series returns to Tampa Bay for Game 6 on Monday. Because of the rainout, the clubs are playing on four straight days. Game 5 is set for Sunday afternoon in Cleveland, with Drew Rasmussen starting for the Rays and Parker Messick for the Guardians.
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