World Series Game 2: Rays 6, Dodgers 4

Rays    - 100 221 000 - 6 10  0
Dodgers - 000 021 010 - 4  5  1

Brandon Lowe hit two home runs, Joey Wendle knocked in three runs, and Blake Snell did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning, as the Rays beat the Dodgers on Wednesday night, evening the World Series at one win apiece. . . . In 2020, when the Rays have the lead after seven innings, they are 35-0.

Lowe (who was only 6-for-56 in this postseason before tonight) gave Tampa Bay a lead they never relinquished when he hit Tony Gonsolin's 12th pitch of the night over the fence in left-center. The Rays had a runner thrown out at the plate in the second inning and increased their lead to 3-0 on Wendle's two-out double in the fourth. Lowe's second dong came in the fifth after Mookie Betts had singled with two outs. The Rays led 5-0.

Meanwhile, Snell (4.2-2-4-9, 88) was taming the Dodgers. He struck out two batters in each of the first four innings, becoming the second World Series pitcher to throw four no-hit innings while also striking out eight or more batters (Sandy Koufax was the first, in Game 1 of the 1963 WS, the first of the Dodgers' four straight wins over the Yankees). Snell was also the first pitcher to have six or more strikeouts and no hits allowed through three innings of a WS game since Randy Johnson in 2001 (Game 2, a game (and series) the Yankees also lost).

Wendle had walked two batters in the second and he went to a full count on all three batters he face din the fourth , needing 21 pitches for a clean inning. He retired the first two batters in the fifth before walking Kiké Hernández (although his 2-1 pitch was well within the strike zone, but plate umpire Todd Tichenor must have zoned out). A correct call might have led to another 1-2-3 inning, but we'll never know. Chris Taylor hammered a two-run homer to right-center, putting the Dodgers on the board. Then Snell walked Betts on a full count and gave up a single to Corey Seager. And suddenly . . . that was the end of his night. Rays manager Kevin Cash went to The Stable.

The teams traded runs in the sixth. Ji-Man Choi and Manuel Margot both singled and Wendle's line drive out to left turned into a sacrifice fly. Will Smith hit a solo dong for the Dodgers.

Trailing 3-6, the Dodgers went in order against Pete Fairbanks in the seventh. He began the eighth as well and Seager blasted a home run to dead center, estimated at 425 feet. And when Justin Turner doubled to right-center, Los Angeles was able to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Max Muncy ran the count full before flying to right. Smith smashed a line drive but it was right at Rays third baseman Wendle. (It had a greater exit velocity (102.6) than his home run two innings earlier (102.2).)

Cash brought in lefty Aaron Loup to face lefty Cody Bellinger, who had walked and grounded out twice. Both teams would still bat in the ninth, but this felt like the turning point of the game. After a called strike and a ball, Loup threw a strike in the upper part of the zone. Tichenor called it a ball. Bellinger fouled off a pitch before taking strike three, ending the inning.

Loup began the bottom of the ninth by striking out Edwin Ríos (swinging, foul, called). Austin Barnes came up as a pinch-hitter and lifted an 0-2 pitch to left. Brett Phillips caught it in front of the warning track. Then Kevin Cash made one final move. He brought in Diego Castillo to face Taylor.

Castillo's first two pitches were on the outside black, both called strikes. Castillo went low and away on 0-2. Taylor tried to check his swing, but he could not. The strikeout meant Castillo was the first pitcher to get a save in a World Series game by getting only the final out of the ninth inning since Rawly Eastwick of the Reds (Game 5, 1975, against the Red Sox).

The Dodgers struck out a total of 15 times, only the second time they have done that in a WS game. The other was the 18-inning marathon against the Red Sox in 2018 (Game 3). Ten different Dodgers had at least one strikeout tonight, tying the record for a nine-inning WS game.

The Dodgers used four pitchers in the first four innings, the first time a team had done that since the Athletics in Game 3 of the 1990 World Series.

Blake Snell is the first starting pitcher in World Series history to allow two hits, strike out nine, and not be credited with the win.

In the first two games, the Rays starting pitchers have worked nine innings and issued 10 walks.

Tyler Kepner: "In their 1963 World Series sweep, the Dodgers used four pitchers to face 136 Yankees batters. Tonight, the Dodgers used five pitchers to face the first 22 Rays batters."

Doug Kern was at the game and had a good idea:

Someone release some fake CDC guidance that doing the wave spreads the Covids. Quick.

— Doug Kern (@dakern74) October 22, 2020

Game 3 will pit Walker Buehler against Charlie Morton on Friday night. When a best-of-seven series has been tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has won the series roughly 70% of the time (65 of 94, 69.1%).

Blake Snell / Tony Gonsolin

The Dodgers lead the series 1-0.

Matt Kelly (mlb.com) offers a more nuanced look at Clayton Kerhsaw's postseason performances:

The Dodgers' eight-run explosion through the first six innings of Game 1 marked only the seventh time in Kershaw's 29 postseason starts that his offense scored at least five runs by the time he released his final pitch of the game. Overall, the Dodgers offense has averaged just 3.1 runs on the scoreboard at the time Kershaw left the game across those 29 starts. . . .

Time and time again, Kershaw has battled both expectations and the scoreboard, hardly ever enjoying a giant lead that has allowed him to relax and attack hitters with a cushion. . . .

Sometimes, Kershaw just couldn't control what happened next. Consider that five of Kershaw's 12 postseason losses came in starts in which he personally surrendered just three or fewer runs before handing the ball to his manager and walking back to the dugout. And consider this, too: per Elias, Kershaw's career postseason ERA would stand at 3.49 if none of the runners he had left on base had ever come around to score.

The article also includes this factoid, courtesy of Sarah Langs:

Clayton Kershaw got 19 misses on 38 swings against him tonight. That 50.0% whiff rate is the highest in any start of his career (min 25 pitches thrown, including postseason)

Will Leitch (also mlb.com) posits a few storylines for Game 2:

Is Kevin Cash already managing nervous? . . .

[Unlike the ALCS] the World Series has days off after Games 2 and 5. Cash sure didn't manage like that in Game 1, though.

Despite Tyler Glasnow looking far from his best self -- six walks in 4.1 innings is a lot -- Cash kept him in to throw a stunning 112 pitches, only the second time in two seasons the Rays have allowed a starter to throw that many pitches. . . . This was particularly curious because making pitching changes is the Rays' whole thing. Cash is usually much more nimble with this staff. . . .

Are the Rays' bats starting to get unstuck?

First off, let it be written in the history books that it is possible to get Randy Arozarena out: He went 0-for-3 with a walk . . . [T]his is a team that just won the American League Championship Series despite scoring more than four runs in a game only once. They've been waiting for someone other than Arozarena to step up . . . 

Once Kershaw left the game, the Rays' bats immediately stirred to life, and if it hadn't been for that absurdly fortunate line-drive catch by Victor González off a Mike Zunino drive in the seventh, Tampa Bay's offense looked like it was starting to finally rev up. . . .

Ian Malinowski (DRays Bay) goes deep into the match-ups and agrees with Cash's decision to stay with Glasnow.

Watching yesterday, there's an easy impulse to interpret the fifth inning as Cash "playing for tomorrow" in the world series.

But that's not what was going on.

Comparisons to the "quick hook" Cash had for Morton in game seven of the ALCS fail, because that quick hook actually came an inning and two thirds later, when the Rays were in a position to bring in their absolute best relievers and use them the rest of the way through the game.

That's not possible in the fifth inning, and the definition of "highly competitive" relievers is different when the Rays are facing the Dodgers' balanced lineup as opposed to when facing the righty-heavy Astros or Yankees. . . . 

And a Rays comeback would almost by definition create high leverage situations later on in the game where Cash would want to call on Anderson or Fairbanks. . . .

Because of Glasnow's quality, it was a calculated, competitive choice that very possibly gave the Rays their best shot at winning the game.

It just didn't work.

Eric Stephen (True Blue LA) says a team effort will be required on the mound for the Dodgers:

Tony Gonsolin will start for the Dodgers, and though he has a perfectly capable starting pitcher . . . for Game 2 he figures to be limited, since he just pitched on Sunday. The givens are that Gonsolin and Dustin May will pitch this evening. It's possible that Julio Urías, who like those two is also only on two days rest.

A grueling NLCS and a rallying finish forced this World Series pitching scramble on the Dodgers by circumstance. . . . 

I think the Dodgers should wait to use Urías as a starter in Game 4. He's been excellent this postseason, and can go five or six innings, especially on what would be five days rest.

And the Dodgers will have Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen all available in relief, all three on two days rest, with an off day coming Thursday. . . .

The Dodgers pitching plan at the moment has Walker Buehler starting in Game 3, on five days rest, and Clayton Kershaw in Game 5, on four days rest, with Buehler available to start Game 7 on four days rest if needed. . . . That leaves the even-numbered games to fill innings. . . .

Snell induced a swing on a pitch outside the zone 35.5% of the time during the regular season, the 10th-highest O-Swing% among all pitchers with at least 50 innings. As a team, the Dodgers' 26.5% O-Swing% was the lowest in the majors. . . .

The Dodgers are hitting .316/.412/.595 against left-handed pitching this postseason, with 11 home runs in 187 plate appearances. Snell throws left-handed.