Late innings lament, Rays drop another one: Rays 1, Guardians 2

The Rays scored early! Yay!

The Rays scored early and then never scored again! Oh, wait, boooo.

Let’s break it all down, shall we?

In the first with two outs Franco got on with a deep double and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Ramirez was then hit by a pitch. A Peralta single brought Franco home and put the Rays on the board nice and early. But enjoy it while it lasts it’s not happening again (I guess, uh, spoiler alert?). Bottom of the inning Springs had a tidy 1-2-3.

Quantrill tightened things up after his rough start and put the Rays down in order. Bottom of the second wasn’t all that kind to Springs. First Gonzalez was safe on the throwing error from Paredes, then Gimenez singled. Thankfully no runs would score... yet.

Franco got on again in the third with a single and was able to steal second, but no one brought him home. Bottom of the inning and troubles continued, with Straw getting a leadoff single. Rosario got a one-out single but was eliminated by the fielder’s choice and ultimately no runs scored for anyone.

Four through six were one-two-three, a phrase that only makes sense in baseball, so enjoy.

Seventh inning Peralta singled to kick things off, but was then eliminated by the fielder’s choice, and two more outs ended the inning scoreless, and in the bottom half the Guardians once more went 1-2-3 this time off Armstrong.

Eighth inning the Rays went down in order, but then things really went off the rails for pitching. Brennan singled, then a Straw sacrifice sent Brennan to second. Kwan doubled to score Brennan, tying the game. A Rosario groundout got Kwan to third, and even though Ramirez was intentionally walked Gonzalez singled to score Kwan and put the Guardians ahead late in the game.

In spite of the Rays drawing THREE walks in the top of the ninth from Franco (who stole second), Peralta, and Margot, none of them managed to score and the last Thursday of the season would go down as an L.

Final: Guardians 2, Rays 1