Rasmussen, on 3 days’ rest, gets Game 5 nod

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays have gone out of their way this season, right up through the beginning of the World Series, to make sure that Drew Rasmussen makes as many starts as possible with extra rest.

But this is Game 5 of the World Series, and Tampa Bay’s season is on the line. So, the Rays are playing their ace.

Four days after starting Game 2 in Milwaukee, Rasmussen will be on the mound to start Game 5 for the Rays at Tropicana Field, the team announced Wednesday afternoon. It will be his first time pitching on three days’ rest since he was working as a multi-inning reliever/opener down the stretch in 2024.

It was not immediately clear how much the Rays are expecting from Rasmussen, who threw 89 pitches over 3 2/3 innings while permitting three runs on six hits in Saturday’s defeat at American Family Field. He had been lined up to pitch a potential Game 6 in Milwaukee on Friday, when he would have been working on five days’ rest

Could he possibly treat Game 5 like a bullpen day, work an inning or two, then return to start Game 6 if the Rays send the Series back to Milwaukee? We’ll find out.

Rasmussen has made 34 starts this year between the regular season and the postseason, and 27 of them have come with five days’ rest or more. He has only made seven starts on what was once considered “regular” (four days’) rest. That was one of the reasons that Tampa Bay opted to start Nick Martinez in Game 1 of the Fall Classic and push Rasmussen back to Game 2.

There is plenty of logic and careful consideration behind the Rays’ handling of Rasmussen. The right-hander had Tommy John surgery twice before beginning his professional career, and he underwent an internal brace procedure -- a third major elbow surgery -- in 2023 that also sidelined him for much of the ‘24 season.

But they didn’t have much of a choice heading into another win-or-go-home game on Wednesday night.

Martinez seemed to be in line to start Game 5, but he was needed to pitch two innings out of the bullpen on Tuesday. Fellow starter Freddy Peralta pitched Game 3 on Monday, and Griffin Jax worked in Game 4 on Tuesday.