– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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SAN DIEGO — The power shown by the Tampa Bay Rays at the plate early set up their devastating power they displayed on the mound throughout the game on Tuesday, blunting their opponents’ renowned pop in helping to even up their Division Series matchup.
Rays pitching set a Major League postseason record by racking up 18 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, and their offense contributed to the team effort with four home runs as Tampa Bay defeated the New York Yankees 7-5 to even up the best-of-five American League Division Series matchup at 1-1.
After seeing their ace, Blake Snell, stumble in their Game 1 defeat on Monday, Tyler Glasnow performed like the top-of-the-line starter that he has been all season, striking out 10 Yankees in his five innings of work while allowing just three hits — albeit two of those hits were home runs. From there, and with the Rays holding on to a two-run lead after five innings, the game was turned over to Tampa Bay’s vaunted bullpen, who then combined to work four innings and allow just one run on two hits while striking out eight batters.
Pete Fairbanks allowed a run and walked two in the ninth, but struck out two batters on his way to earning the save.
“It’s a credit to our stuff, and it’s saying something about that group out there because [the Yankees’ hitters] are selective, they’re just a very talented, very thick, very deep offensive lineup,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said about his pitchers after the game. “It does speak volumes to the amount of stuff that, on any given night, we can feature.”
Though the Rays never trailed in the game, the Yankees mounted multiple rallies late in the game, including in the seventh inning when Gleyber Torres walked and Clint Frazier singled to beginning the inning with Tampa up 7-4. Nick Anderson came on in relief and proceeded to strike out three All-Stars in a row — Gary Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge — to end the threat.
Anderson retired all six batters he faced, four via punch out.
“That’s my M.O., I try to strike everybody out,” Anderson said.
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