MLB Playoffs Live Blog: Wednesday, October 4th

The Phillies closed out the Marlins without issue in Game 2 on Wednesday night, completing the 7-1 victory and a sweep over their two-game set.

The Marlins as a team totaled just five hits against Aaron Nola and company in a hapless offensive performance.

The reigning National League Champions will now find themselves in a major battle against the top-seeded Braves in Atlanta for the NLDS beginning over the weekend.

The Brewers threatened again in the ninth inning on Wednesday, as a two-out double by Christian Yelich put two runners in scoring position and brought the tying run to the plate in the form of William Contreras.

Diamondbacks’ closer Paul Sewald wasn’t having it though — as he struck out Contreras on three pitches to end the game and the Brewers’ season.

The Diamondbacks will now head to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers in the NLDS over the weekend.

Bryson Stott delivered the knockout blow to the Marlins’ season in the sixth inning on Wendesday, blasting a grand slam off of Andrew Nardi to increase the Phillies’ lead to 7-0.

There’s still three innings to play, but it feels like that was the blow that’s going to end the Marlins’ season.

Andrew Saalfrank just came out of the Diamondbacks’ bullpen and did some absolutely legendary work.

Entering with the bases loaded and one out — with the Diamondbacks leading 5-2 — Saalfrank got Sal Frelick to ground into a fielder’s choice with the Diamondbacks cutting down Christian Yelich at the plate.

He then got Willy Adames to bounce into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

He has forever endeared himself to Diamondbacks’ fans everywhere.

Don’t count the Brewers out just yet.

The Brewers have loaded the bases for Sal Frelick with only one out in the eighth inning. The Diamondbacks still have five outs to get and the Brewers are not going quietly into that good night.

Now’s the time to tune in.

Aaron Nola has been on absolute cruise control in Game 2 against the Marlins on Wednesday night, needing only 70 pitches (45 strikes) to navigate six scoreless innings.

The Marlins are staring at a three-run deficit and now have just nine outs remaining to make a comeback.

The way Nola is rolling, he just may finish this one himself.

J.T. Realmuto greeted David Robertson by crushing a solo homer in the fourth inning to extend the Phillies’ advantage to 3-0.

This one feels like it’s slipping away from the Marlins.

If the Marlins are going to rally to beat the Phillies on Wednesday and stave off elimination, they’re going to need to do so with six innings from their bullpen.

Braxton Garrett was pulled from the game after only three innings of work. He was hit by a comebacker by Trea Turner during the Phillies’ two-run rally in the third, but it doesn’t seem like that played into the decision to remove him from the game.

David Robertson will try to hold serve in the fourth inning and keep the Marlins’ deficit at two runs.

The Diamondbacks weren’t content with just taking the lead in the sixth inning on Wednesday, they’re going for the throat.

After Ketel Marte’s two-run single gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead and chased Freddy Peralta from the ballgame, they padded that lead.

Tommy Pham scampered home on a wild pitch from Abner Uribe, then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a run-scoring single to make it 5-2.

Alex Thomas then grounded into a double play to end the threat.

It’s time for the Brewers to get it in gear, or their season could be over.

The Phillies struck first against Braxton Garrett and the Marlins in Game 2 on Wednesday night, with Kyle Schwarber smacking an RBI double in the third inning to plate Cristian Pache from first base.

Trea Turner followed that with a run-scoring single and all of a sudden it’s a 2-0 ballgame.

The Marlins are now on the ropes, with their season hanging in the balance. They’ll need to strike back against Aaron Nola.

The Diamondbacks finally broke through against Freddy Peralta. Alek Thomas got them on the board with a solo shot with two outs in the fifth inning and the good swings continued into the sixth.

There, Geraldo Perdomo worked a leadoff walk, Corbin Carroll followed with a double and Ketel Marte lined a two-run single into center field to give the D’Backs the lead.

There are still no outs in the inning, Freddy Peralta has been bounced from the ballgame, and the Brewers’ season is fading quickly.

It looks like we’ve got a good ol’ fashioned pitcher’s duel on our hands in Philadelphia.

Braxton Garrett answered with a scoreless second inning — despite allowing a double to J.T. Realmuto in the frame. He struck out two more in the inning and now has four K’s on the day.

The Diamondbacks finally got on the board with two outs in the fifth inning on Wednesday, as Alek Thomas crushed a 351-foot solo shot off of Freddy Peralta to trim their deficit to one run at 2-1. It was also the Diamondbacks’ first hit off of Peralta in the contest.

There’s a lot of game left to be played in Milwaukee and this one is far from over.

Braxton Garrett looked like he was up to the challenge in the bottom half of the first inning, racking up a pair of strikeouts of his own — Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner — in a clean inning of work.

Certainly looks like runs are going to be at a premium in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Aaron Nola looked outstanding while retiring the Marlins in order in the top half of the first inning — including strikeouts of Jorge Soler and Josh Bell.

If he’s going to deal like this all game, the Marlins are going to have their hands full.

We haven’t forgotten there’s a fourth game on the slate as well. The Phillies and Marlins are underway in Philadelphia with the reigning National League Champions looking to bring an end to the Marlins’ 2023 season.

The Diamondbacks’ suffered a major loss in the third inning on Wednesday, as Gabriel Moreno was removed from the game with a head injury after he was struck in the helmet by Brice Turang’s backswing in the second inning.

Moreno wound up finishing the inning after a consultation with the training staff, but he was ultimately replaced by Jose Herrera to start the third inning defensively.

In terms of offense, defense and leadership, it’s a brutal blow for the Diamondbacks at the most critical juncture of the season. Let’s hope that he’s okay.

Freddy Peralta has looked extremely sharp in the early-going against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, piling up four strikeouts over three scoreless innings.

His strikeout victims so far — Tommy Pham, Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Brice Turang.

This looks like it’s going to be a game where every run matters and the Diamondbacks are going to have to really work to breakthrough against Peralta while he’s throwing the ball like this.

Sonny Gray and five Twins relievers combined to shut out the Blue Jays on Wednesday to win Game 2 of the Wild Card series and advance to the ALDS.

The Twins will face the Astros in a best-of-five series beginning Saturday.

Minnesota was outhit 9-7 in this one — and all of the team’s hits were singles — but the Twins still did a better job of capitalizing on opportunities than did the Blue Jays. Carlos Correa picked up the team’s lone RBI. The other run scored on a double-play ball from Willi Castro.

The Twins’ victory Tuesday was their first in any postseason game since 2004. The series win is their first since 2002, when they beat the A’s 3-2 in the ALDS before succumbing to the Angels 4-1 in the ALCS. This is just the second postseason series the Twins have won since they last prevailed in the World Series in 1991.

The Toronto offense never met expectations this season. That was especially the case in back-to-back losses to the Twins, ending the team’s postseason after two games.

Pitching depth was the concern for the Blue Jays going into the year, but the club finished fourth in the majors in ERA and second in ERA+. The offense, led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, was supposed to be among the league’s best. Instead, the team finished a tad under the league average for runs per game (4.60 vs. 4.62). George Springer (102 OPS+), Alejandro Kirk (93 OPS+) and Daulton Varsho (85 ERA+) were particularly disappointing. Guerrero, obviously, also failed to reach his past heights, though he did easily lead the club in homers (26) and RBI (94).

The offense is potentially in line for some big changes with Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Kevin Kiermaier and Whit Merrifield all eligible for free agency. Pitchers Hyun Jin Ryu and Jordan Hicks could also depart. Meanwhile, Guerrero, Bichette and closer Jordan Romano are all due to get considerably more expensive, which could make it more difficult to replace departing players. If the Jays want to be as good of bets in 2024 as they were this year, Rogers Communications is going to have to up the budget from 2023’s record payroll. With Guerrero, Bichette and three strong starting pitchers in their primes, there’s certainly too much talent here not to try to contend again.

The Brewers aren’t going down without a fight. Their bats jumped on Zac Gallen in the first inning on Wednesday, scoring a pair of runs to take an early 2-0 lead.

Christian Yelich started the fun with a single and swiped second base as William Contreras struck out. Carlos Santana then drew a walk and Mark Canha singled to load the bases.

Sal Frelick opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly, then Willy Adames followed with a sharp RBI single to give the Brewers the 2-0 lead.

Gallen really had to work in the opening frame — having to throw 32 pitches, which is a season-high for the right-hander in the first inning.

The Diamondbacks have always responded well when they’ve been in an early hole this season. Let’s see if that trend continues in Game 2.

Time is officially running out on the Blue Jays’ 2023 season. They have been held scoreless through eight innings againtst Sonny Gray and the Twins’ bullpen on Wednesday and are still facing a two-run deficit with just three outs remaining in their season.

It’ll be Alejandro Kirk, Santiago Espinal and Matt Chapman due up against Twins’ closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning.

It all comes down to this.

The Blue Jays mounted their biggest threat of the game in the sixth inning — loading the bases with only one out on singles from Cavan Biggio, Alejandro Kirk and pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal.

That set up a showdown between Caleb Thielbar and Matt Chapman with the tying runs in scoring position. Chapman lined what looked to be a bases-clearing double into the left field corner, but it landed just on the outside of the foul line.

He then rolled over a ball to Carlos Correa at shortstop for an easy 6-4-3 double play to end the scoring chance and the inning.

The Twins need to maintain their advantage for just nine more outs to advance to take on the Astros in the ALDS.

While we’re at a lull in the action in Blue Jays/Twins, let’s not forget that there are two other games on tap for this evening.

The Brewers will take the field against the Diamondbacks hoping to stave off elimination for at least one more day.

They’ll do so rolling out the same lineup that came up just short against Brandon Pfaadt and a host of Diamondbacks’ relievers in Game 1 on Tuesday night. They’ll face a much tougher task on Wednesday though, with Zac Gallen toeing the slab for the D’Backs.

Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli went to his bullpen after getting five scoreless innings from starter Sonny Gray.

The right-hander scattered five hits and two walks on the afternoon while striking out six.

Baldelli just needs to get 12 outs from his bullpen now in order to hold a two-run lead and advance to the ALDS.

For the second straight postseason, the Rays are two and done.

Missing Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen from the rotation and Brandon Lowe and He Who Shall Not Be Named from the lineup, the Rays went down very quietly in a 7-1 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday. They were shut out in Tuesday’s Game 1. Also shut down by the Guardians last October, they’ve totaled two runs in four games the last two postseasons.

It’s not at all what the Rays were expecting in opening the season 13-0 and 29-7. Injuries slowed the juggernaut, and after losing the AL East to the Orioles, the team left itself with no margin for error in October. No one hit. The defense was surprisingly poor. Neither Tyler Glasnow nor Zach Eflin was at his best.

Of course, the Rays will be back. McClanahan, unfortunately, will probably miss all of 2024, but with Glasnow, Eflin, Aaron Civale, Taj Bradley and maybe Shane Baz in the Opening Day rotation and Rasmussen and Springs returning during the season, the Rays might wind up with as much pitching depth as any team. None of the team’s hitters are eligible for free agency, and between Junior Caminero, Curtis Mead, Osleivis Basabe and Carson Williams, the team has plenty of youngsters looking to bust in. It’s not what fans are looking to hear right now, but the future remains awfully bright.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made an inexcusable blunder on the basepaths in the fifth inning, getting picked off of second base to end a Blue Jays’ rally.

The Blue Jays had put two men on — with a single from George Springer and a two-out walk from Guerrero Jr.

Both runners then advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch with superstar shortstop Bo Bichette at the plate for the Jays.

After a six-pitch battle with Bichette, Gray spun and fired to Carlos Correa ducking in behind him at second base, catching Guerrero Jr. napping and applying the tag just before he was able to dive back into the base.

The Twins still lead 2-0 heading to the home half of the fifth — and any momentum that the Jays had built was just squashed.

Well that certainly couldn’t have been what Jays’ skipper John Schneider was hoping for when he made the bold decision to pull José Berríos in the fourth inning.

Yusei Kikuchi was summoned from the bullpen to face the upcoming left-handed bats from the Twins and allowed Max Kepler to reach on an infield single. He then issued a seven-pitch walk to pinch-hitter Donovan Solano to load the bases with no outs.

Carlos Correa then poked an RBI single through the infield to drive in Royce Lewis with the first run of the ballgame.

Kikuchi then got pinch-hitter Willi Castro to bounce into a double play — but that also plated a second run.

Ryan Jeffers then grounded out to short to end the frame.

The Blue Jays are now staring at elimination, facing a two-run deficit with the game heading to the fifth inning — and they need to get at least 15 more outs from their bullpen. Let’s see if they’re up to the task.

It’s never fun to second-guess decisions based on the outcome, but there’s plenty of first-guessing going on right now over Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider’s decision to pull José Berríos after giving up a leadoff walk to Royce Lewis in the fourth inning.

Yes, there were a slew of left-handed hitters coming up, but Berríos had been absolutely dealing with five strikeouts through three scoreless frames — and had only thrown 47 pitches (32 of them for strikes).

Ultimately, it’s going to depend on how Yusei Kikuchi — and the rest of the Blue Jays’ bullpen — performs, but count me in the camp that thinks the Jays’ got a bit too cute here.

Despite not coming in with much momentum, the Rangers made it look pretty easy against the Rays, closing out the best-of-three Wild Card series with a 7-1 win on Wednesday.

Adding in the 4-0 shutout Tuesday, a Rangers team missing Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer from the rotation got 13 2/3 innings of one-run ball from Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi against the Rays.

Evan Carter again starred for the Rangers, homering and walking in the game. He reached in his first six career postseason plate appearances before finally striking out in the sixth inning today.

The controversy of Texas making Robbie Grossman its DH and No. 3 hitter turned into a non-issue. Grossman went just 1-for-9 in the two games, but it obviously didn’t make much of a difference. It’ll be interesting to see if the Rangers show more faith in Carter and elevate him from the ninth spot into the middle of the lineup in the ALDS.

The Rangers will now move on to face the Orioles in the ALDS on Saturday. Dane Dunning will likely get the start then, with Montgomery and Dunning following in the rotation.

Something pretty surprising happened in Minnesota after José Berríos’s scoreless first; the Blue Jays got lefty Yusei Kikuchi up in the bullpen. Nevertheless, Berríos remained in and kept Toronto scoreless in the second.

If this were 2003 or something, the only logical explanation for Kikuchi throwing was that Berríos was feeling something and might not have been able to continue. This is 2023, though, and there’s been plenty of speculation that the Jays might pull a righty early to go to one of their lefties and try to get Twins’ left-handed hitters out of the game. What complicates that potential strategy is that Kevin Gausman and Berríos are very good pitchers to be playing such games with. We still might see Kikuchi or Hyun Jin Ryu if Berríos starts to have problems, but he’s looked very strong at the start of this one.

Matthew Pouliot

The Rays finally pushed their first run across in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Game 2 against the Rangers, with rookie Curtis Mead plating Josh Lowe. It resulted in Nathan Eovaldi’s removal after 6 2/3 innings. Josh Sborz then stranded the two runners Eovaldi left on, leaving the Rangers ahead 7-1 after seven.

The run halted the Rays’ postseason scoreless streak at 33 innings. They scored a lone run in a Game 1 loss to the Guardians last year before going scoreless for 15 innings in the series-ending Game 2, nine innings yesterday and six innings today.

We’re off and running in Game 2 in Minneapolis. The Blue Jays threatened in the top half of the first inning, as George Springer lined a sharp single over third base and Bo Bichette reached on a two-out infield single — but Sonny Gray got Cavan Biggio to take a called third strike to end the threat.

Onto the home half of the first..

The Rangers just continue to pour it on in St. Petersburg, FL. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager notched back-to-back doubles in the sixth inning, plating two more runs to give the Rangers a 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th inning.

This is not a Rays offense that can really mount this type of comeback so quickly. They haven’t scored a run since last postseason and haven’t gotten a baserunner to second base in eight innings.

The Rays’ prize free agent, Eflin was tremendous this season, going 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA and 1.02 WHIP across 177.2 innings with 186 strikeouts. Sadly, his playoff debut in Tampa Bay did not go as well, allowing four earned runs on eight hits in five innings while walking two and striking out three.

The Rays will turn to left-hander Colin Poche to try and keep the Texas bats in check.

The Tampa Bay Rays defense came back to bite them again. An error by second baseman Curtis Mead allowed Corey Seager to reach.

Seager was later singled to third by Robbie Grossman and then scored on a Nate Lowe ground out.

The Rangers now have a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 5th and seem destined to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

However, in better news for Mead, yesterday he became the first player in MLB history born in Australia to record a postseason hit. So, you know, that’s pretty cool.

The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 after Josh Lowe was unable to get to a shallow bloop from Josh Jung on a diving attempt. Leody Taveras, who had stolen second a few pitches earlier, was able to score on the play and may have even forced Lowe to go for the diving attempt. Had Taveras been at first base, it would have been unlikely for him to score on the play, so Lowe likely would have just kept the ball in front of him.

However, it didn’t matter as 21-year-old rookie Evan Carter crushed a ball 391-feet to right field to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead.

The Rays have only won 20 games this season when their opponent scores first, so this could be a hole that’s too big for them to climb out of.

The Rangers get on the board first in Game 2 with Adolis Garcia crushing a cutter from Zach Eflin 416 feet at 108 mph off the bat.

With the Rangers now up 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, the pressure is on Tampa Bay to respond.

We mentioned coming into the game that Rangers’ starter Nathan Eovaldi has not been himself since coming back from injury at the end of the summer. However, he look pretty good through two innings today.

Eovaldi is throwing 95 mph on his four-seam, which is up from the 94 mph on the pitch he was averaging in September. While he hasn’t gotten any whiffs on the pitch, he’s been able to use it to get ahead and set up the curve and splitter, which have both been sharp so far.

If he can give Texas five strong innings, that would be huge for their chances to win this game.

The Tampa Bay Rays defense was a big talking point after Game 1 in which they made four errors. Just two batters into Game 2, their defense is again causing some problems.

Corey Seager drilled a ball to center field and new Tampa Bay center fielder Manuel Margot got a bad read and then seemed to stumble backpedaling to make the catch. As a result, the ball fell to the ground for a double.

Luckily for Tampa Bay, Zach Eflin was about to get a pop out to first base and then a groundout to shortstop to get out of the inning without any runs.

Here are the starting lineups for Game 2 of the Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays.

TEXAS RANGERS

Texas will roll out the same lineup that they won Game 1 with. A big story for the Rangers will be the health of Game 2 starter Nathan Eovaldi. Since coming back from injury, Eovaldi has a 9.30 ERA in 20.1 September innings. His four-seam velocity is down to just 94 mph, and he’s not close to the same pitcher we saw earlier in the year.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Josh Lowe will start in right field and bat cleanup for Tampa Bay after sitting out Game 1 with left-hander Jordan Montgomery on the mound. Manuel Margot also enters the lineup for Jose Siri, who had returned from injury to play in Game 1 but may not be 100% healthy.

The rest of the lineup is exactly the same.