Ray of hope: If Snell wins Game 6, closeout king goes in Game 7
Updated Monday, October 26, 2020
Charlie Morton is supposed to be the one advantage the Tampa Bay Rays have against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 116th World Series. He’s the ultimate big-game pitcher, 4-0 in postseason closeout games.
Yes the Rays have the better bullpen, but it’s overtaxed because their starting pitchers struggle to get five innings. Tampa Bay needed Morton, 36-year-old master curveballer, to win his Game 3 start. Instead, they got one of the worst games of his postseason career. He allowed 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings of a 6-2 loss. It ended his bid to tie Orlando Hernandez’s record of eight straight winning postseason decisions.
Morton can get a second chance at a World Series victory, and it would be of the closeout variety. But to reach the climactic Game 7, the Rays need Blake Snell to get them through Game 6 on Tuesday night.
It’s not an impossible ask. Snell is a complete starting pitcher, a lefthander who throws 96 mph and has an off-speed arsenal. The Dodgers couldn’t touch him for 4 innings in his Game 2 start. Manager Kevin Cash was hasty pulling him after he allowed two hits in the 5th. The Rays won the game 6-4, but with Morton’s short outing in Game 3, their bullpen headed for depletion.
Down 3-2 in this best-of-7, the Rays have the advantage for Game 6, with Snell in a rematch against rookie Tony Gonsolin, who has a 9.39 ERA for 7 2/3 postseason innings. By contrast, Snell’s ERA is 3.32 for 24 innings.
So the stage in Arlington, Texas, could be set for a classic Game 7, Morton against Walker Buehler, who’s 2-0, 1.80 in this postseason. The 26-year-old righthander is averaging 14.04 strikeouts for 9 innings, a ratio nobody else has ever achieved.
Of his previous start, Morton said, “I never really felt comfortable out there. Even in playoff games, I’m able to eventually get there if I don’t get there early. And I just never did get there. Combine that with who they are with the bat, and it made for a rough night.”
The Rays look to Morton as the stabilizer and leader of their staff. “So appreciative of Charlie,” Cash said. “The presence in the clubhouse, what he does, the mentality he just naturally provides our clubhouse when we hand him the ball. Game 3 is not going to change any way we feel about him.”
But even if Snell does his part and Morton goes for the closeout, the Rays will be underdogs against the heavy-hitting Dodgers with Buehler seemingly recovered from finger blisters that curtailed his effectiveness throughout September and most of October.
He’s treated the condition with laser therapy and ointment used by rodeo cowboys dealing with rope burns.
Buehler this week assured his manager, Dave Roberts, that he’s healthier than he’s been this year, that the spin rate on his fastball is now as good as it’s ever been. His fastball is explosive enough that he can stay away from the breaking pitches that tend to produce blisters.
He and all the LA pitchers have one main concern. They should avoid throwing anything to Randy Arozarena that’s in the strike zone. The rookie left fielder has set records for most hits in a postseason (27) and most home runs (9).
The Rays’ problem offensively is that they’re boom or bust, 70% of their runs scoring off their 33 postseason home runs. The Dodgers have almost as much power (29 homers), but they can go small-ball, with 10 stolen bases to Tampa’s 4. The Dodgers are hitting .258 as a team and slugging .471, compared to the Rays’ .214 and .410.
The Rays have avoided the defensive snafus that cost LA in Game 4, so you can’t count them out. The Rays have won 63 straight games when they have a lead entering the 7th innings. They need six strong innings from Snell and Morton, and they have to hope Buehler can’t last longer.
