The Cleveland Guardians left Tropicana Field on Tuesday night with a missed opportunity, but they are not leaving Florida discouraged. Cleveland dropped Game 2 of the American League Championship Series 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays after a fourth-inning error led to three unearned runs, and the offense could not break through against Freddy Peralta. That evened the best of seven series at one game apiece. Still, the Guardians accomplished what most road teams hope to do in the first two games of a series, which is earn a split and take away home field advantage. After the game, Stephen Vogt made it clear the mood in the clubhouse remains confident.
“We feel great. Obviously, we would’ve loved to have taken tonight. That would’ve been really good, and we had our opportunities to do that. Going home 1-1, to go have three games in front of our fans in Cleveland, we feel really good about that. We’re excited to get it going,” Vogt said.
"Going home 1-1, to go have three games in front of our fans in Cleveland we feel really good about that."
Guardians' manager Stephen Vogt addresses the media after ALCS Game 2.
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Vogt admitted that winning Game 2 would have been huge and said the Guardians had their chances to do it. But he also pointed out that heading home with the series tied, with the next three games set for Progressive Field in front of Cleveland fans, is a position the team feels really good about. He said the Guardians are excited to get things going.
Vogt was right about the missed chances. The Guardians put runners on base in five of Peralta’s six innings and stranded seven of them over the first five frames. Their lone run came in the seventh.
The only damage against Cleveland came in one inning. With two outs in the fourth, a grounder skipped between José Ramírez’s legs at third base, allowing a run to score, and Liam Hicks followed with a two run single. All three runs were unearned. Parker Messick otherwise pitched well, allowing six hits over five innings, and the bullpen of Shawn Armstrong, Tim Herrin and Slade Cecconi held the Rays scoreless the rest of the way.
Now the series shifts to Cleveland for Games 3, 4 and 5. The Guardians know firsthand how loud Progressive Field can get after the scene in Game 5 of the division series, when a sellout crowd watched Gavin Williams carry a no hitter into the sixth inning and the pitching staff set a major league record with 21 strikeouts in a 2-0 win over the White Sox.
Williams will be back on the mound in Game 3 on Thursday. He was dominant at home during the regular season, posting a 2.84 ERA across eighteen starts at Progressive Field, and he went 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA against Chicago in the division series.
Vogt believes his team is in a great spot, and with three straight games at home, the Guardians have a real chance to take control of this series.
NEXT: Jose Ramirez's Error Proves Costly For Guardians As Rays Tie Series
