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Rays finally close lid on Astros to earn World Series berth

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4 years ago

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It took them long enough, but the Tampa Bay Rays finally closed the lid on the Houston Astros in the ALCS Saturday night with a 4-2 Game 7 victory.

Of course, it didn’t have to be like this. The Rays were up 3-0 in the series and flirted with a historic collapse by allowing the Astros to force a seventh game in the first place. But that short sells a talented Houston club that, trash cans or not, is far from an easy playoff out.

The Astros actually out-hit the Rays, 59-44, in the series and were only outscored by three cumulative runs over the seven games. They brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning of Game 7 and were truly only an errant throw, a booted ball, or a wild pitch away from a different result in any of their four losses.

But that’s the maddening thing about playing the Rays — they don’t beat themselves. They pitch phenomenally, they play crisp defence, and they’re managed with a deft touch. Whichever team they contest the World Series with will be in for a tough test.

The Rays and the rest of us will learn that opponent Sunday night. For now, here are your takeaways from a tightly played game which served a suiting end to a suspenseful series.

Randy stays hot

Entering Game 7, Randy Arozarena was already the breakout star of the post-season. Then, a dozen pitches into the bottom half of the first inning, he went and did this:

That was Arozarena’s seventh homer of these playoffs, setting an MLB record for most by a rookie. And only three players — Barry Bonds, Carlos Beltran, and Nelson Cruz — have ever hit eight in a single post-season.

It also gave the Cuban outfielder 21 hits since the playoffs started, putting him just one back of Derek Jeter for the most by a rookie in a single post-season. At this rate, it’ll be shocking if that record doesn’t fall sometime early in the World Series. Just another October night for the ALCS MVP.

Big game Charlie

When the Astros won the 2017 World Series with a 5-1 Game 7 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lance McCullers Jr. threw the first 2.1 innings of the game, while Charlie Morton threw the final four. Three years later, they were both back on the mound in the seventh game of a post-season series — except this time they were starting for opposite teams.

Morton departed the Astros as a free agent after the 2018 season, signing a two-year, $30-million contract with the Rays that looks like an absolute bargain in hindsight. Morton’s made 42 starts since, pitching to a 3.33 ERA and 2.92 FIP with sparkling 10.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 0.7 HR/9 peripherals.

And he’s been even better in the post-season, allowing only two earned runs over 20 innings spread between four playoff starts the last two seasons. So why would Saturday’s Game 7 be any different?

Morton was on an absolute mission, allowing only a Michael Brantley single over his first five innings, cruising into the sixth on just 49 pitches. He didn’t face a three-ball count until that inning, having retired 13 of the first 17 hitters he faced on three pitches or fewer.

He did it with a steady stream of curveballs, sinkers, cutters and four-seamers, constantly mixing and matching while living on the plate. Morton didn’t get much swing-and-miss, but he didn’t need it, as the Astros either stared flummoxed at perfectly located strikes on the black or put soft contact into play for Tampa’s elite defence to vacuum up.

But the Rays are still the Rays. So, with two runners on and two out in the sixth inning, and Morton not having allowed a ball out of the infield in the frame, manager Kevin Cash came to get him at only 66 pitches. Morton might have had the stuff to get through nine. But it was game 7. And the Rays had a plan.

A lot from Lance

Having stretched their bullpen thin just to reach this position, the Astros needed a lengthy outing from McCullers, who went seven innings during his Game 2 start earlier in the series.

But the Rays knew that, too. And their early-innings approach couldn’t have been better as they doggedly worked deep counts, refusing to chase curveballs off the plate while running up McCullers’ pitch count. The Rays forced him to throw 30 pitches in the first inning, and 20 more in the second. It’s tough to pitch deep into a ball game when your pitch count is surpassing 60 in the third.

McCullers nevertheless proved tricky to square up, locating curveballs, changeups and sinkers for called strikes, while getting swing-and-miss beneath the zone. But when he made mistakes, the Rays capitalized. There was Arozarena’s bomb in the first. And then there was this hanging curveball to Mike Zunino in the second:

You can see it all in McCullers’ body language as the ball comes off Zunino’s bat. It was an absolute bomb, hit 430-feet over the left field wall. That there was no one on base at the time is the only solace McCullers could take from it.

It had to be a frustrating outing through and through, as McCullers was featuring nasty stuff but paid the price for a couple missed locations and never settled into a groove. Ultimately, his inefficiency led to an early hook, as Dusty Baker came to get him with two out in the fourth inning, just as he was about to complete his second trip through the Rays lineup. McCullers gave his best argument for staying in, but the veteran Astros manager wasn’t hearing it.

A bullpen advantage

By the sixth inning, it was up to the bullpens. And that’s exactly what the Rays wanted. The Astros had to lean on leverage relief over the previous three games, as they fought tooth and nail to stay alive in the series. Ryan Pressly had pitched in three consecutive games; Andre Scrubb and Blake Taylor had pitched in two straight; and Chris Javier had thrown long outings in two of the last three.

The Rays, meanwhile, had Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks, and Ryan Thompson all rested and ready to go, not to mention Diego Castillo, who was available after throwing just 14 pitches in Game 6. As soon as the starters were done, it was advantage Rays.

And that bore fruit immediately, as the Rays tacked on a run in the sixth off Jose Urquidy to go up by four. Meanwhile, Anderson got four outs behind Morton to carry the Rays’ shutout into the eighth. But then things got a little dicey.

Anderson put a couple runners on with two out, turning things over to Fairbanks, who couldn’t find the zone, walking Michael Brantley on four pitches to load the bases. The next pitch he threw — one of those 91-m.p.h. sliders that are somehow becoming normal in today’s game — ended up in right field off Carlos Correa’s bat, plating a couple.

But the nice thing about being Pete Fairbanks is you can throw a baseball 100-m.p.h., which he did on three of four pitches to Alex Bregman, striking out the Astros third baseman to end the inning.

Back out for the ninth, Fairbanks struck out a batter, gave up a single, struck out another, and finished it with a fly ball to right. Job done. Series done. The Rays had a plan and, as usual, it worked.

Odds and ends

• This was just a miserable post-season for Yuli Gurriel, who went 5-for-44, including 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. In his second-last plate appearance of the ALCS, Gurriel hit into a double play on this absolute cookie:

• The Rays defended masterfully all series long, combining perfect positioning with instincts and athleticism to rob the Astros of hit after hit. This ridiculous play by Willy Adames will get lost in the shuffle but deserves to be appreciated:

• Jose Altuve’s 2020 was easily the worst offensive season of his career. But there’s no arguing with what he did in the playoffs, going 18-for-48 with five homers and hits in 10 of Houston’s 13 games. He’s now a .303/.376/.566 career hitter in 63 post-season games.

• Rays starter Tyler Glasnow was throwing off the bullpen mound throughout the eighth and ninth innings, staying ready to enter the game if things went sideways. They didn’t, which means he ought to be in line to start Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday against either the Atlanta Braves or Los Angeles Dodgers.

Source:- Sportsnet.ca

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

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23 hours ago

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November 6, 2024

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

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2 days ago

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November 5, 2024

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

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2 days ago

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November 4, 2024

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EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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