The Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians get set for game two of their wildcard series with the Rays facing elimination. The Guardians took game one 2-1 in a pitcher's duel between Shane Bieber and Shane McClanahan. The Guardians will look to close it out on Saturday afternoon as they send Triston McKenzie (11-11, 2.96) to face recently activated right-hander Tyler Glasnow (0-0, 1.35) of the Rays. Game time is set for 12:07pm EST once again.
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The Tampa Bay Rays were beaten, in many ways, by their own game on Friday afternoon in a 2-1 loss to Cleveland. They were done in by excellent starting pitching, timely hitting and a bullpen that closed the door. The Rays got two of those things but the hitting never came around on Friday night. Starter Shane McClanahan pitched an excellent game, going seven innings and scattering seven hits. One mistake turned into a two-run home run in the sixth inning that did in the Rays. Tampa's bats never got going on the day, including 0-for-16 with six strikeouts from the team's top three hitters: Yandy Diaz, Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena. Ninth hitter Jose Siri made the hardest contact all day, flying out deep to right center his first time up and homering to right in the sixth to briefly give the Rays the lead. The Rays now face a must-win scenario on Saturday afternoon or their season is over.
Cleveland takes Game 1 pic.twitter.com/U0ckoatrAP
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 7, 2022
It will be all hands on deck when the Rays take the field on Saturday afternoon and try to stay alive in this two out of three series. Tyler Glasnow, recently back from IL for nearly the entire season, will take the mound hoping to keep the Rays' season afloat. Glasnow touched 99 MPH on the gun since his return but will be on a 75 pitch limit in this outing. Ideally, that will get Tampa through the fifth inning and they can mix and match arms out of the bullpen against the Guardians. Expect the likes Drew Rasmussen to get a look as well as bullpen stalwarts Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks, neither of whom appeared in Friday's game. The Rays have to hope they can mix and match pitchers to Cleveland hitters on Saturday and their own lineup contributes more than three hits and one run.