Latest / Tampa Bay Rays Weekly / Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 17, 2026: 7-3 vs Cleveland Guardians

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Tampa Bay Rays Game Review — Oct 17, 2026: 7-3 vs Cleveland Guardians · Tampa Bay Rays Weekly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Mike Michelson here. I have been waiting all
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: series for this feeling and it finally hit me tonight
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on a 46 degree night in Cleveland. You know what
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I mean? That moment when you look at the scoreboard
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and think, okay, this is the team I was promised.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: This is the version of these Tampa Bay Rays we
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have been talking about since spring training. The one that
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: shows up when it matters most. Seven runs, the most
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: they have scored in any game this postseason and the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: streak is dead. That horrible, painful gut-punch streak of zero
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: wins in 10 postseason games when trailing at any point gone,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: buried under a 110-mile-per-hour line drive into the left field corner.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Here is where we started. The Guardians came in up
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: two games to one. They scored first two. Chase DeLauder
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: lined a single into right field in the first inning,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and Stephen Kwan crossed. Down 1-0 in a game we
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: absolutely needed to win, and if you have been watching
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: this team for any length of time, you know what
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: tends to happen next. The Rays go quiet. The bullpen
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: comes in early. You start checking your phone. You start
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: calculating what tomorrow looks like. That is the script we
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: have seen over and over since 2020, but not tonight.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Nick Martinez went out there and did something I think
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: people will forget about by tomorrow because we are so
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: focused on the offense, but he was the foundation of
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: this entire thing. Five and a third innings, one run
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: on two hits. He retired 10 straight batters at 1.10
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Straight batters on a cold night in Cleveland in game
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: four of the American League Championship Series. With your season
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: on the line, he was locking everyone up. And here's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: what makes that even more impressive. Martinez was 2-0 with
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a 0.00 ERA against Cleveland during the regular season in
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: 13 innings. He carried that right into tonight. Some guys
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: just own certain opponents, and this one owns these guardians.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: The third inning gave us a little nudge. Yandy Diaz doubled.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Aranda singled him in. 1-1, still breathing. But the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: real moment, the one I keep coming back to when
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I try to explain this game to someone who did
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: not watch it, is the sixth. Daniel Espino comes in
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and this rookie had struck out Caminero twice already this
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: series on 98 and 100 mile per hour fastballs. Twice
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: he had blown it past him. The third time Caminero
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: times him up. 98 on the way and Junior just
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: rakes it. 110 miles per hour down the left field
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: line for a double. And here's what that hit means
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: beyond the scoreboard. It means the pressure valve released. You
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: could feel it. Cleveland had been throwing heat at him
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: all series trying to blow it past him. And he
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: finally said, no, thank you. I will take that. Then
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the seventh. This is where the game actually broke open
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and it was chaotic in the best possible way. Richie
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Palacios singles, Taylor Walls singles, they pull a double steal,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: both guys in scoring position, and then Jonathan Aranda lines
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: a single pass to diving Travis Bazzana into right field.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Palacios scores, easy run, but here's where it gets ugly
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: for Cleveland and beautiful for us.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Whoa. Thank you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Chase DeLotta whiffs on the ball, it rolls under his glove,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and Taylor Walls comes in 4-1. Aranda, who had gone
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: 0-10 in the first three games of this series, who
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: had been invisible, he is standing on third base. Chandler
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Simpson hits a sack fly, 5-1-3 runs in the inning,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and it is not even the eighth yet. Credit to Cleveland,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: because they did not just roll over. Travis Bozzana hit
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a solo homer off Ian Seymour in the bottom of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the seventh, his first career playoff home run. Then Bray
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and Rokio single to make it 5-3. They had the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: tying run on base at one point and Stephen Kwan
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: grounded out to first. Just missed it. And that is
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the difference between this game and some of the ones
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: we have lost in the past. We survived it. Freddy
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Peralta got the last out of the six to protect
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that 2-1 lead going into the seventh. Kevin Kelly and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Brian Baker locked down the back end. The bullpen held,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: which is not glamorous, but it is what winning looks like.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And then Yandy Diaz, because of course it was Yandy Diaz,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: went out in the ninth and absolutely demolished the two-run
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: homer to right field. It looked like a pop-up. It
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: just kept going. Like it was angry about something. Two
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: runs on a night when the temperature was 46 degrees
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: and the ball should not have carried that far, but
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: it did. 7-3. And the reason I love this is
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: because Diaz had been quiet for most of this series.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Two hits tonight, two runs batted in. but that homer
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: was the exclamation point. It said, we are not just
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: winning this game, we are putting it away. Here is
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the stat I keep staring at. Diaz, Aranda, and Caminero
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: went six for 14 with five runs batted in. For
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the first time this series, all three of them were
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: productive in the same game. The trio we have been
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: waiting for, the guys who are supposed to carry this lineup,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: all showing up at the same time on the biggest
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: stage in the coldest weather. After a rain delay that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: made everyone nervous. That is not luck. That is a
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: team finding its rhythm when it needed it most. Richie
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Palacios deserves a mention too. Three hits, two runs scored,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: two stolen bases. He was everywhere tonight. The guy who
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be the leadoff spark plug lit the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: fuse every time he got a bat in his hands.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: So what does this mean? The series is 2-2. Game
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: 5 is tomorrow back in Cleveland. And here is the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: thing about this format. If it goes to seven, they
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: play four games in four days. That is brutal. That
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: is a bullpen gauntlet. Tonight, the Rays use six different pitchers.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Not ideal for tomorrow, but they got it done. The
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Guardians are 2-3 at home this postseason. 2-3 in front
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: of their own crowd. That tells you something about the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: pressure they are feeling. They came into this game looking
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: to move within one win of the World Series. Instead,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: they are tied up and the momentum has shifted. I
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: will be honest with you. I was worried going into
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: this series. I was worried about the streak. I was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: worried about whether our guys would step up when the
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: lights got bright tonight. They did.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: All of them.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Martinez on the mound. Caminero with the bat in the sixth.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Aranda in the seventh. Diaz in the ninth. This is
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: what it looks like when a team decides it is
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: not going to be the one who chokes. Game five tomorrow.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Same park. Probably same cold night. And now it is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: a completely different series.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Two and two.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Anything can happen, but for the first time in this postseason,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I believe it. I believe these Rays can close this
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: thing out. I believe they have found the version of
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: themselves that wins championships. And if we go back to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Tampa for Game 6 and 7, I'm not getting ahead
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of myself, but I'm sleeping a whole lot better tonight
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: than I was on Thursday night. This is Mike Michelson.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Go Rays.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: See you tomorrow.