Castillo has a vicious sinker/slider combo that allowed him to strike out 28% of the righties he faced this season. He tried to recover with a fastball and missed. Maldonado struck out 33% of the time against righties. But the Astros led 4-1. Latest on Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN The numbers did not like the bunt. "I don't think [the players] are tensing up. Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell will start Game 1 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros on Sunday night. Blake Snell. The MLB postseason is down to the final four. Carlos Correa singled in Altuve. The thing is: Those individual matchup numbers that you just read likely did not enter into Cash's thinking at all. Here's what's on the offseason to-do list. Latest on Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell including complete game-by-game stats on ESPN Springer shortened his swing and poked the on-the-outside-edge fastball through the wide-open right side of the infield. However, it was a beautiful contrast of what baseball is now and what it has always been. It didn't matter that Snell had struck out Springer twice or that Springer has better numbers against Castillo than Snell. With the leadoff man on base representing the tying run, the leverage index shot up over 2.0, which made this the statistical definition of a high-leverage at-bat. And they shouldn't. It took six pitches -- none of them fastballs -- but Snell finally left a slider up and Diaz bounced it through the 5-6 hole on the left side for a single. George Springer (LI: 2.19, PA rank: second). A few months before Kevin Cash became old enough to get his driver's license, Baker had finished his first season as a big league manager. Team: Tampa Bay Rays (majors) Born: December 4, 1992 in Seattle, WA us Draft: Drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 1st round (52nd) of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Shorewood HS (Shoreline, WA).. High School: Shorewood HS (Shoreline, WA) Debut: April 23, 2016 (Age 23-141d, 18,700th in MLB history) The Rays pulled their ace starter who was working on a shutout, bringing in one of their relief aces in the fifth inning, played the infield in and shifted at the same time, played the corners in, did everything by the percentages. Will Smith homering off Will Smith, Dodgers' Taylor (ankle) out of Game 6 lineup, Astros rekindle memories of '04 Red Sox in ALCS, 'Dangerous' Seager hits 2 HRs, L.A. stays alive, Braves' Minter K's 7 in 3 innings in starting debut, Ex-Angels employee indicted in Skaggs' OD death, MLB players extend COVID-free streak to 47 days, MLB Playoffs Daily: Can Braves eliminate Dodgers, plus climactic Astros-Rays Game 7, Could the 2020 Astros join the 2004 Red Sox on Saturday? Nah, that's a stretch. Snell, the AL Cy Young winner in 2018, had not completed six innings in any of his 14 previous starts this season, including the playoffs. As ESPN celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, we examine the talented and charismatic crop of superstars to determine the current Latino face of baseball. Jose Altuve doubled in Springer and went to third on a passed ball. Castillo started with an inside slider that handcuffed Zunino and kicked away from him, but he quickly ran it down while Castillo raced in from the mound to cover the plate, so Diaz remained perched on third base. Thus, Baker has managed a 103-win team that did not make the playoffs and a team that was on a 78-win pace (over 162 games) that did. On the other side, precocious Houston lefty Framber Valdez was dealing despite allowing an early run. Snell last pitched Monday in a 9-3 loss to the Yankees in Game 1, giving up four runs on six hits in five innings. "I thought the way that Valdez was throwing, there wasn't going to be a ton of scoring opportunities for us and wanted to get the ball in to Diego's hand.". At 95.5 mph in exit velocity, it was a hard-hit single against a shifted defense. Maybe. Given that Cash had to anticipate Baker's decision to call for a bunt to Maldonado, this was the matchup he had chosen: Castillo versus Springer, rather than Snell versus Springer. The case for Acuña » | Tatis' arrival » That's about 9% better than the average bunt attempt in a typical season. Meanwhile, Springer's OPS against Castillo (including the postseason) is a robust 1.125, though it's over just eight plate appearances. Keep this in mind: Springer rarely hits a ground ball to the right side of the infield. For nearly all of baseball history and certainly for most of Baker's long career in baseball, this is a classic bunt situation. Cash stuck with his ace. Especially because I am a guy that wants to be out there and go deep as possible. Power Rankings. Managers used to make the mistake of reading too much into small matchup samples far more often than they do now. Editor's Picks. Get 2020 MLB game logs and career game log information at FOX Sports. • Your guide to MLB's bubble ballparks » • ALCS preview: Rays vs. Astros » • Astros?!? Only the 2004 Red Sox had ever forced a seventh game after falling into a 3-0 hole, doing so in the ALCS that year against the New York Yankees. Maldonado took a slider; then on another slider, he dropped a textbook bunt up the third-base line. His season average was 82 pitches. Both have closed games at times, but in 2020, no one bats an eye when Castillo is up in the fifth inning of a 1-0 game. None of the pitches was close enough for him to grouse about. Both runners scored. The Rays' league-best record (40-20, .667) would have staked a playoff slot in any format in place through the annals of the American League. Skilled lip readers would have noticed he was less than pleased as he stomped off the mound. The Astros had just grabbed the lead through a sequence of a leadoff walk, followed by the three highest-leverage plays of the game. Anyway, according to FanGraphs.com, after the bunt, the Astros' win probability dropped from 49.2% to 48.5%. The inning in question was the top of the fifth, which Tampa Bay entered with a 1-0 lead. Baker had broken into Major League Baseball as a teammate of Hank Aaron with the Atlanta Braves in the last season before divisional play, in 1968, back when you had to finish with the best record in your league to make the MLB playoffs which, at the time, was simply known as the World Series. It also set the wheels in motion. The former Cy Young Award winner will start Game 1 for the third consecutive series for the Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 2-1 in Game 5 on Friday to advance. "I'll show more emotion after we win tomorrow, then onto the next challenge. Every move Cash made was logical and defensible, while Dusty's charges simply had better execution. The Astros' 29-31 mark required this year's expansion to a 16-team format to allow the club to play on. Cash was born on Dec. 6, 1977, and Baker had been a major leaguer for a nearly a decade. And because things fell Baker's way, he and Cash together joined an exclusive managerial club: Only four managers have ever reached a Game 7 in a series in which one team lost the first three games of the set. Baker, 71, seemed to be done with the annoyances of skippering, until the Astros ran smack into scandal and they needed someone of his integrity to help restore faith in the franchise. The former Cy Young Award winner will start Game 1 for the third consecutive series for the Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 2-1 in Game 5 on Friday to advance. The Astros' win probability leaped from the aforementioned 48.5% to 64%. You have come to the ESPN Africa edition, for other ESPN editions, click above. When Manuel Margot laid one down in Game 3 of the ALCS, the postgame reaction in the Zoom sessions was like someone had reinvented the sport. Springer had struck out in both of his at-bats against Snell. You have come to the Philippines Edition, for other ESPN editions, click here. Three infielders were playing on the grass between second and third base, while first baseman Yandy Diaz was also on the edge of green, halfway between first and second. When Baker and Cash ended up against each other in this year's ALCS, it was an unlikely pairing of managers in many ways. But what if the respective managers were in opposite dugouts? 1. "I'm sure [coach] Gary [Pettis] was very happy, because every day in BP, he stands at second base and dares George to try and hit him," Baker said. A few years later, he was waiting on deck when Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth's hallowed record. He has laid down 26 over them successfully during his regular-season career and executed about 65% of his attempts, per baseball-reference.com. "I was just frustrated," Snell said, before adding, "Most of the time I am aware of it, and I understand that Cash is really good at his job and is good at what he does. But that inning -- the top of the fifth -- was the tipping point, when Houston's Hail Mary comeback from hopelessness in the series felt complete. Perhaps it's overstating it, but all of that incongruous history seemed to collide in one dramatic inning during Friday's Game 6 of the ALCS. And, honestly, whether you prefer old school, new school or a blend of all the above, would you want it any other way? Against a traditional alignment, it probably would have been a tough backhand play for Rays shortstop Willy Adames, but since he was shaded toward second base in the shifted alignment we'll never know. Even more interesting than the matchup was Cash's defensive alignment. How angry should you be? This whole thing has been a challenge, and it has been more of a challenge of positive thinking and faith than it has been a challenge of physically on the field. Overall, Snell was 4-2 during the 2020 regular season, with a 3.24 ERA and 63 strikeouts. Those Giants did not make the playoffs. Castillo was getting hot in a hurry in the bullpen. Here we're going to switch back into summary mode. But it has become less common as knowledge has increased, and it's not something that Cash is going to be guilty of very often. It ended at 80.9%. It only mattered that Snell's control was wavering at a pitch count that has been his typical threshold and that Springer had seen him twice. Brett Phillips and Randy Arozarena both go for the dancing throne with an array of moves after the Rays' Game 5 win over the Yankees. Clemente leads list of all-time legends ». On the next pitch, with the Rays infield in the same alignment, Castillo put a 96 mph sinker on the outer edge of the plate, though Zunino appeared to be set up for an inside offering. Against "soft" pitches like the curveball and changeup that Snell excels at, Diaz's career OPS is .787, but just .610 on soft pitches from southpaws. So I go in there, 'Oh God, now I got to bunt in there against this guy.' Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell will start Game 1 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros on Sunday night. Over a 52-year career, how many times had he seen a manager (or been a manager) pull his ace during the fifth inning of a key game with a shutout working?

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