Miscues, Missed Opportunities Cost Cleveland Guardians ALCS Game 2

It’s not often that the momentum in the second game of a playoff series is with the away team, but that was the narrative heading into Game 2 of the ALCS after the Cleveland Guardians stole Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday evening.

The Rays might have just stolen that edge back after they won Game 2 over the Guardians, 3-1.

Both teams played a pretty even game through the first three innings. Parker Messick and Freddy Peralta pitched around some traffic, but ultimately didn’t let any of it do any damage.

Game 2 truly got started in the bottom of the fourth inning when Tampa Bay scored the game’s first first runs.

It was also a sequence that Cleveland could look back on in agony, depending on how the rest of the series plays out.

Jose Ramirez has played elite for the Guardians all postseason, but he misplayed a ground ball that came off the bat of Ben Williamson, which allowed Jose Mesa Jr. to score. One pitch later, Liam Hicks smoked a line drive to center cetner field, bringing in two more runs for Tampa.

Cleveland would have gotten out of the inning cleanly if Ramirez had played it cleanly. Instead, just like that, the Rays had a three-run lead, and none of them were earned.

The Guardians’ miscues started well before Williamson put the ball in play, though.

Messick had Junior Caminero in a 2-2 count, and Messick threw a slider that appeared to touch the top part of the zone, but it was called a ball.

The Guardians still had challenges left and finished the game with two remaining, but Austin Hedges chose not to have the ABS system double-check the umpire’s call.

If Hedges does challenge that pitch, Caminero is likely called out, and Tampa Bay’s three-run inning may never have happened to begin with.

The Guardians are a team that takes advantage of extra outs, but the Rays take that to another extreme. Cleveland learned that the hard way in the fourth inning.

Messick was able to go one more inning after Tampa’s quick scoring barrage. Cleveland’s starter allowed six hits, walked two batters, and struck out three hitters on 82 pitches.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of Cleveland’s Game 2 loss was that the Guardians had opportunities all night and just didn’t capitalize on them.

The Rays only had more hits (seven) than the Guardians (six), and Cleveland even had more opportunities with runners at second and third base. But the Guardians were just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

Those numbers simply won’t cut it in the postseason.

The playoffs are all about taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes. Cleveland did that in Game 1, but the Rays struck back with that game plan to take Game 2 and even up the series 1-1.

Now, the Guardians must take advantage of playing in front of their home crowd for the next three games.