Rays’ bats come alive as they even ALCS against Guardians

The ALCS is now essentially a best-of-three.

Thanks to the Tampa Bay Rays’ 7-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night, the ALCS is now tied, two games apiece, setting the stage for a thrilling week of baseball to determine the American League pennant and the remaining spot in the World Series.

The key for Tampa Bay on Saturday — their biggest bats came alive in a big way.

Tampa Bay’s bats come alive to even ALCS

The Rays weren’t really considered one of baseball’s elite offensive teams during the regular season, finishing 12th in Major League Baseball in runs scored, but they were still one of the better run-producing teams in the AL.

Their 776 runs were still third in the American League, and just three runs behind the second-place Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees (779). Not super-imposing, but certainly good enough to put some fear into a pitching staff.

But through the first six games of the postseason, and especially the first three games of the ALCS, their bats had gone a little quiet with just 18 total runs, a nearly two-run-per-game drop from their regular season performance.

On Saturday, in some brutally difficult hitting conditions given the temperature and wind, everything came alive.

The top of the order did most of the damage as the top-four hitters, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero, were a combined 6-for-17 with six runs driven in and two walks.

Caminero’s double in the top of the sixth inning broke what was, at the time, a 1-1 tie, while Diaz found a way to muscle a ball through the wind in the top of the ninth inning to put the game away with an opposite-field, two-run home run.