Rays Can't Keep Wasting Strong Pitching Performances If They Want to Beat Guardians

The Tampa Bay Rays suffered their first postseason loss on Monday night, falling 7-3 to the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

And while there are plenty to criticize about the performance, I think the biggest concern is that Tampa Bay failed to take advantage of another solid outing from Drew Rasmussen.

Especially after getting off to such a strong start offensively.

Rasmussen entered Monday's contest coming off an incredible performance against the New York Yankees in the ALDS, where he went eight scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters.

However, Cleveland made things much more difficult.

The Guardians collected eight hits against Rasmussen, including solo home runs from Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey.

But the right-hander still managed to allow just two earned runs while striking out seven batters.

That's a performance Tampa Bay should be able to win with.

Especially considering the Rays had won Rasmussen's previous 13 starts.

And the offense certainly looked ready to help him early.

Yandy Díaz opened the bottom of the first inning with a double before Jonathan Aranda moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt.

Junior Caminero followed with an RBI single, and Jonny DeLuca added another run-scoring hit to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.

But that was basically all the offense could come up with.

Cleveland starter Foster Griffin settled into the game after the opening inning, retiring 10 of the next 11 Tampa Bay hitters he faced.

And I think that's where things started getting frustrating.

The Rays have been successful throughout the season when they're consistently putting the baseball in play and forcing opposing pitchers to work through difficult situations.

However, Monday night, Tampa Bay couldn't maintain that pressure.

Taylor Walls struggled to deliver in a couple of serious situations, and the bottom portion of the lineup wasn't providing much help.

Things didn't get much better once Cleveland turned to its bullpen.

Cedric Mullins eventually hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, bringing Tampa Bay within one run, but the Rays couldn't build on that momentum.

Meanwhile, the bullpen couldn't keep Cleveland from taking control.

Tyler Wells allowed two earned runs in the eighth inning before Cole Sulser surrendered another three in the ninth.

The result was a game Tampa Bay had every opportunity to win but ultimately let slip away.

Now the Rays face an interesting challenge heading into Game 2.

Freddy Peralta will take the mound against Parker Messick, who has posted a 1.03 ERA across 26.1 innings against Tampa Bay.

That's not exactly an encouraging matchup for an offense that struggled Monday.

And while I don't think one loss is reason to panic, the Rays can't continue depending on their starting pitchers to carry the entire team.

Rasmussen gave Tampa Bay an opportunity to win.

Now the offense and bullpen need to do a better job finishing what their starters begin.