Rays rough up Masahiro Tanaka to pull within one win of ALCS

San Diego – The Tampa Bay Rays are unanimous in their praise of Randy Arozarena, who is living up to his nickname, “The Cuban Rocket.”

Arozarena homered for the third straight game and Kevin Kiermaier and Michael Perez also went deep for the Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 8-4 Wednesday night to move within one victory of reaching the AL Championship Series for the first time in 12 years.

“He’s the best player on the planet,” Kiermaier said. “He’s incredible. He’s very unique in so many ways. Everyone loves him. He’s the man. What he’s doing is incredible.”

Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka was charged with the loss after allowing five runs in four-plus innings. Tanaka struck out four and walked one, but also gave up a pair of home runs.

New York slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer off Shane McClanahan to center field in the eighth inning to become the first player with a home run in each of his team’s first five games of a single postseason. Stanton has six homers and 13 RBIs in those five games. McClanahan made his major league debut in Game 1 on Monday night.

Arozarena, a 25-year-old rookie from Havana, is having a breakout postseason. He homered off Gerrit Cole in the first inning of Game 1, a 9-3 Yankees win, and off rookie Deivi Garcia in the first inning of Game 2, a 7-5 Rays win.

Arozarena hit a shot deep to left leading off the fifth Wednesday night to chase Tanaka and give the Rays a 5-1 lead.

The Rays took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Division Series. Game 4 is Thursday night at Petco Park, which has yielded 16 home runs in three games — nine by Tampa Bay.

The Rays are looking to advance out of the ALDS for just the second time. They reached the 2008 World Series before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Arozarena went 3-for-4 with a walk. He leads all players in the postseason with 12 hits in five games. He went hitless in five postseason plate appearances in 2019 for St. Louis, which traded him to Tampa Bay in January.

On Tuesday night, Rays starter Tyler Glasnow called Arozarena “the best baseball player on earth right now. What he’s doing is phenomenal.”

Tanaka said Arozarena has an unwavering approach at the plate.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen before where a guy punishes every single mistake,” Tanaka said through a translator. “We can’t get away with anything against him right now. It’s been pretty frustrating.”

Kiermaier hit a three-run shot into the home run deck in right off Tanaka with no outs in the fourth to make it 4-1. Joey Wendle was aboard on a leadoff single and Willy Adames on a walk.

“To be quite honest, I think my homer really got us going, and then it was a snowball effect after that,” Kiermaier said.

Perez hit a two-run shot to left off Chad Green in the sixth. Kiermaier was aboard on a leadoff double. It was the 11th home run by a No. 9 hitter this postseason, the most all-time.

Charlie Morton got the win after holding the Yankees to two runs, one earned, and four hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked two in winning his fifth straight postseason decision.

Athletics 9, Astros 7

In Los Angeles, Chad Pinder tied the score with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, Sean Murphy hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth and Oakland rallied past Houston to avoid elimination in their AL Division Series.

The Astros lead the best-of-five set 2-1 and can advance to their fourth straight AL Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday.

Braves 2, Marlins 0

In Houston, rookie right-hander Ian Anderson pitched like a poised veteran, right fielder Nick Markakis made a nifty defensive play late and Atlanta threw another playoff shutout in beating Miami for a 2-0 lead in their NL Division Series.

The Braves have tossed three shutouts in four games this postseason. Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson both homered for the second straight day, putting Atlanta one win away from a sweep in the best-of-five matchup.

The 22-year-old Anderson, who made his major league debut in late August, scattered three hits and struck out eight over 5⅔ innings. He added to his impressive outing last week in the first round, when he fanned nine in six scoreless innings against Cincinnati

Mark Melancon, the fifth Atlanta pitcher, finished the three-hitter for a save.

Marlins starter Pablo Lopez allowed three hits and struck out seven over five innings in his postseason debut. It was his first outing since Sept. 24.

Game 3 is Thursday in Houston.

Source : Baseball – The Japan Times