Rays confident of rebound against Red Sox
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Evan Longoria woke up feeling much better about Tampa Bay’s chances of rebounding against the Boston Red Sox.
Not that it will be easy to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-5 AL division series matchup that resumes tonight at Tropicana Field. But to have any chance of succeeding, the Rays star said players can’t dwell on being on the brink of elimination yet again.
It took winning three consecutive elimination games just to get into the division series. And now, it will take three more to beat Red Sox and reach the league championship series against Oakland or Detroit.
“I don’t think we let our guard down at all. I think we just got outplayed,” Longoria said after an optional team workout Sunday.
“They swung the bats better, they pitched better,” the three-time All-Star added. “At some point you’ve got to be able to admit that and turn the page and go to the next day.”
Alex Cobb, who beat Cleveland last Wednesday in the AL wild-card game, will carry the Rays’ hopes to the mound in Game 3. Right-hander Clay Buchholz will start for the Red Sox, who outscored Tampa Bay 19-6 in the opening two games at Fenway Park.
History doesn’t favor the Rays. Of the previous 22 AL teams that have lost the first two games of a division series, only four rallied to advance.
Tampa Bay was able to force a Game 5 after dropping the first two in the 2010 division series, however the Rangers went on to play for the pennant.
Boston has won 14 of 21 games this year between the AL East rivals.
“That’s been a consistent approach that we’ve taken throughout the course of the year. We haven’t gotten ahead of ourselves,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “We haven’t carried on a thought or a feeling of what has taken place the night or the series before. And I think everyone is eager to get back on the field tomorrow.”
The Rays made uncharacteristic mistakes in the first two games, and their inability to hit in key situations undermined any chance of overcoming gaffes.
Longoria thinks that being back home after two weeks on the road will help. When the team plane landed in Tampa early Sunday, it concluded a five-city, 12-day, 5,631-mile trek.
The Rays won their regular season finale in Toronto, forcing a one-game tiebreaker at Texas to determine the second AL wild card. They beat the Rangers to reach the playoffs, then Cobb shut down the Indians 4-0 in the wild-card game.
“I like our chances here. We played really well down the stretch. I know our home fans will be out in full force, and I think our record speaks for itself. When we’ve had a full house, we’ve played pretty well,” Longoria said.
Tigers turn to Sanchez: On another team, he might be an ace.
For the Detroit Tigers, Anibal Sanchez is the No. 3 starter – at least in this AL division series against Oakland.
Sanchez takes the mound today for Game 3 between the Tigers and Athletics after the teams split a pair of pulsating one-run games in Oakland. The A’s evened the series Saturday night despite a brilliant performance by Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander, and now the Tigers will call on Sanchez, another standout from what’s become an exceptional starting rotation.
“We just came back from playing two playoff games, and we’re pitching a guy that led the league in earned run average,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s pretty good.”
Sanchez’s 2.57 ERA this season indeed paced the American League, and he’s been exactly what Detroit hoped for when the Tigers acquired him from the Miami Marlins in the middle of last season. Sanchez, Verlander and right-hander Max Scherzer have been so good over the last couple years, it wasn’t clear how Leyland would order them for this series.
“This year, I just tried to keep to the level of those guys,” Sanchez said. “For me, I’ve got my job, and every five days, I try at that point, to throw a really good game.”
Scherzer won Game 1 against Oakland, and Verlander held the A’s scoreless for seven innings in Game 2. Oakland finally scored in the ninth off the Detroit bullpen to win 1-0, but now the Tigers can send Sanchez out today. Doug Fister will take the mound in Game 4 after going 14-9 with a 3.67 ERA during the regular season.
“They’re lucky enough to have three guys – and really Fister at times can be just as tough as any of them,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “If you put any of those four guys on a different team … you’re looking at top-of-the-rotation guys.”
The A’s can run four solid starters out to the mound too – even if Oakland’s pitchers aren’t as well known. Sonny Gray certainly made an impression in his postseason debut Saturday, when he went toe to toe with Verlander. Oakland right-hander Jarrod Parker will pitch Game 3, and he says there’s no extra pressure to match scoreless frames with the Tigers.
“That’s the goal every time out,” Parker said. “I’m not going to go out and press and force and not be who I am.”