ALCS Game 4 rained out in Cleveland; Guardians, up 2-1 on Rays, resume Saturday night
Major League Baseball postponed Friday’s ALCS Game 4 between the Rays and Guardians because of rain and moved it to Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, wiping out Sunday’s off-day. Cleveland leads the series 2-1 after Petey Halpin’s go-ahead homer won Game 3 on Thursday.
The schedule change: Game 4 is now set for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Progressive Field, and Game 5 moves to Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, on what had been an off-day, MLB.com reported. A potential Game 6 would be Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Fans holding tickets for Friday’s game may use them for Game 5 on Sunday, and tickets for the originally scheduled Saturday game will stand for Game 4, MLB.com said.
What the managers said: “It’s completely out of our control,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, according to MLB.com. “This is baseball. This is Cleveland.” Rays manager Kevin Cash said the rain “never cleared out the way they were hoping it would.”
How Game 3 went: Halpin hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning and Gavin Williams struck out nine over five innings as Cleveland beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Thursday, The Guardian reported. Chandler Simpson had put the Rays ahead with a two-run triple in the fourth. Daniel Espino, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith allowed one baserunner over the final four innings, and Rays batters struck out 13 times, four of them by Junior Caminero.
Saturday’s matchup: Nick Martinez remains the scheduled starter for the Rays, and Shawn Armstrong will open for the Guardians, likely followed by a bullpen game, MLB.com reported. Both bullpens get an extra day of rest, which could help a Cleveland staff that has leaned heavily on Smith and Gaddis. The weekend forecast in Cleveland looks much better, with no heavy rain projected Saturday, MLB.com said.
Why it matters now: After Thursday’s Game 3, Cleveland is two wins from the World Series, and both remaining wins could come at home. The ALCS winner will face the Brewers, who swept the Dodgers in the NLCS. Losing Sunday’s off-day also squeezes both teams’ pitching plans for the rest of the series.