Sticking with Ras backfires, then 'pen stumbles in ALCS opener

ST. PETERSBURG -- Drew Rasmussen marched into Tropicana Field’s home dugout after six innings Monday night possessing both a one-run lead and firm control of Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

He hadn’t been quite as dominant as he was in his last start, when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Yankees in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, but he had clearly done his job. He shut out the Guardians’ pesky lineup for five innings, permitted only a solo homer to Chase DeLauter in the sixth and once again put the Rays in position to win a postseason series opener.

Except he wasn’t done for the night yet.

Rasmussen walked into the dugout and told manager Kevin Cash he was good to stay in the game, although he’d thrown 90 pitches and the Rays had relievers Tyler Wells and Cam Booser warming up in the bullpen. That proved to be the turning point of the night.

Rasmussen’s 91st and final pitch was blasted out to center field by Patrick Bailey for a game-tying home run, then Tampa Bay’s bullpen let the game slip away in the final innings of a 7-3 defeat that ended the Rays’ franchise-record 13-game winning streak with Rasmussen on the mound and put Cleveland in the ALCS driver’s seat.

“I was fine. Cashy checked in with me, and I told him I was good,” Rasmussen said. “Unfortunately, it just didn't unfold the way we wanted it to.”

Rasmussen’s stat line partially tells the story of another mostly excellent outing. He worked around eight hits and struck out seven over six-plus innings, and the only runs he allowed came on solo homers.

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He became only the fifth pitcher in franchise history to record consecutive quality starts in the playoffs, and the others are among the greatest starters to ever wear a Tampa Bay uniform: James Shields, Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir in 2008, and David Price in 2010-11.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Cash said. “I thought he threw an incredible ballgame.”

But the Rays’ first ALCS game at Tropicana Field since Game 7 against the Red Sox in 2008 will likely be remembered for the way Rasmussen’s outing ended. Or, more accurately, the fact that it even continued into the seventh inning in the first place.

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However, it’s worth remembering that Rasmussen has earned the trust of his manager with years of elite performance. He threw 114 pitches against the Yankees in his final regular-season start and 101 against New York on Oct. 3. There seemed to be no question in his mind that he would return to pitch the seventh.

“[Cash] just said, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ I felt good enough to go back out, and so I went out there and I aggressively attacked the big part of the strike zone, like I do countless times, over and over again,” Rasmussen said. “Unfortunately, it wasn't in our favor.”

Cash said he was “kind of going batter to batter” with his ace at that point, which is why Wells and Booser were warming up. But he wasn’t going to let Rasmussen face leadoff man Steven Kwan for a fourth time.

Instead, the No. 7-hitting Bailey ended Rasmussen’s night with one swing.

“The Bailey ball [ended] up a little bit more middle-middle than what we were hoping, but I mean, no, we're going to take our chances [in an] 0-0 [count],” Rasmussen said. “One pitch [to DeLauter] was executed almost exactly how we wanted to, and then the other one [was] obviously a mistake.

“It's a bummer that an outing that I thought we had grinded through pretty well, it just kind of unfolds that way.”

Especially the way it went from unfolding to unraveling, at least after Booser got the Rays through the seventh inning with the score still tied at 2. While the Rays couldn’t get anything going against the Guardians’ bullpen, their relief corps was uncharacteristically shaky.

Pitching for the first time in a month, the right-handed Wells allowed two hits in the eighth before lefty Ian Seymour surrendered a tiebreaking two-run single up the middle to the left-handed-hitting Nathaniel Lowe on an 0-2 fastball above the zone.

Right-handers Cole Sulser and Kevin Kelly couldn’t keep the Guardians to four runs, either, as they combined to allow three more in the ninth.

Just like that, the Rays were facing questions about whether all the time their relievers have had off -- with extended rest between series and a relatively light workload in the ALDS -- may be an issue moving forward.

“They're ready to go. The guys have done everything they needed to do with the time off to keep their deliveries intact. We're going to give up some hits at times,” Cash said. “That's a very good team over there. They put a lot of pressure on pitchers and can foul balls off and lengthen out at-bats, and then you add the component that they're good hitters.”