ST. PETERSBURG — Tampa Bay is one win from the American League Championship Series after beating New York 5-2 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run fifth inning against Yankees ace Cam Schlittler before a sold-out crowd of 40,226 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Tampa Bay knew the challenge against Schlittler, the American League Cy Young Award favorite who has shown he is made for big moments in unfriendly environments. Asked about the plan, shortstop Taylor Walls said, “Just kind of do what we’ve been doing all year,” and the Rays did exactly that with a relentless, contact-driven rally.
The Rays struck first in the opening inning by capitalizing on sloppy defense. Yandy Díaz reached on an error by third baseman Ryan McMahon, advanced on a single by Jonathan Aranda and scored when New York threw away an attempt to get two outs on a grounder by Junior Caminero, though Tampa Bay managed just one run despite three errors and another misplay on a Chandler Simpson grounder. Ben Rice tied the game with a solo homer off Freddy Peralta in the fourth, New York’s first hit of the night, before Tampa Bay answered in the fifth. Aranda led off with a single and Caminero crushed a 112.4 mph double to right-center, then Liam Hicks grounded to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. to bring home Aranda. Simpson followed with a grounder that shortstop George Lombard Jr. couldn’t handle to make it 3-1, stole second, and Jonny DeLuca reached on another error by Lombard before Richie Palacios ripped a two-run single up the middle on the eighth pitch from lefty Brent Headrick.
The inning ended Schlittler’s night with just two strikeouts, the fewest of his year and tied for the fewest in any game in his career. Tampa Bay, which struck out less than any other team in the Majors this season, had already kept Schlittler without a strikeout in the first two innings for only the third time in his young career, pairing power at the top with pressure from the bottom of the lineup and a series of balls in play.
Manager Kevin Cash then counted outs to the finish, with lefty Ian Seymour handling the bulk of the work to get to Game 3 at Yankee Stadium. Teams with a 2-0 lead in best-of-five postseason series have gone on to win 83 of 93 times (89%), and teams that won the first two games at home in the Division Series under the current 2-2-1 format have won 33 of 36 times (92%). The last team to rally from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five was the Yankees in the 2017 ALDS against Cleveland.