Correa, Altuve Miscues Lead Rays to 9-run Final At Bat, Eliminate Reds

The Reds were ready to celebrate as the Rays needed at least seven runs in their final at bat to advance in the free Statis-Pro baseball game https://tinyurl.com/3y8ckrv7. (The Mets also won their pool, see bottom of blog.)

 With both teams running out of pitchers since each can only pitch once in the two game series, Tampa exploded against four Astros pitchers in the bottom of the 8^th inning but two past Astros World Series heroes had miscues in the field to help them. The painfully messy bottom of the 8th scoresheet is at the bottom of the blog.

The Astros led 5-4, and the Rays not only needed to rally to catch the Reds at 3-1 as a final pool record but needed at least 7 runs in that at bat to past the Reds in run differential as the Reds were a +8 and the Rays were a +2 entering that at bat.

P.S. - After posting this blog we were watching the Yankees vs. Phillies on NBC's Sunday night baseball game, and saw that our first two teams to advance to the semifinals - the Red Sox and Rays - are the two teams with the most wins since June 25 - a total of 21 and 18 respectively with the Brewers in 3rd at 17.

Amazingly, here is how they did it entering the bottom of the 8^th trailing 4-5.

Gavin Lux singled to center to start the bottom of the 8^th.

Cedric Mullins walked.

Richie Palacios singled to right.

Nick Fortes hit a grand slam home run to give the Rays an 8-5 lead.

Carson Williams made it back to back with a solo homer to make it 9-5

Junior Caminero double to left.

Yandy Díaz singled him home to make it 10-5.

Jonathan Aranda flied out to center field.

Jake Fraley then hit what should have been a double play grounder that would have assured the Reds of winning the pool by leaving them with the run differential tie-breaker, but the former World Series star Carlos Correa bobbled the grounder to not get either out and keep the Rays alive.

Lux then delivered his second single of the inning to load the bases.

Cedric Mullins then hit a shot toward 2^nd base that required a Clutch Defense (CD) play by another former World Series hero Jose Altuve. Under the Clutch Defense chart for middle infielders, the “31” random number (range from 11-88 is possible) would have been a line drive caught and double play on the runner returning to second base for an average defender or better (CD 3, 4 or 5). Even a below average 2^nd baseman (CD2) would have knocked the ball down and thrown home for the out.

However for all his great hitting over the years, Altuve is a CD1 which is the only level that would not come up with that ball, letting it through for a 2-run single that left runners on the corners and the Rays already at a 12-5 lead to give them the run differential to win the pool tie-breaker. It was actually pinchrunner Chandler Simpson who raced home for what ended up being the decisive run to advance the Rays.

 Richie Palacios then grounded to second to get Lux home for the 13-5 lead.

Fortes stuck out to end the inning, and the Astros failed to score in the top of the 9^th to finish the 4-game pool play 0-4 with a minus 19 tie-breaker for losing the four games by a combined score of 10-29.

Here are the pool results of all games, showing the Rays edging the Reds in run differential after both went 3-1 in pool play. 

PB-	Pod D Pitchers Final	Opp	Score	Allow	Result	Proj ERA
2'-6	Brady Singer	Hou	4	3	W	4.37
2'-9	Chase Burns	Hou	4	0	W	3.71
2'-7	Hunter Greene	TBR	0	3	L	3.91
4'-7	Nick Lodolo	TBR	9	3	W	4.03
	Cincinnati Totals		17	9	3-1, +8	Eliminated
2'-8	Hunter Brown	Cin	0	4	L	3.63
2'-6	AJ Blubaugh	Cin	3	4	L	4.4
2'-6	Mike Burrows	TBR	2	8	L	4.24
2'-6	Tatsuya Imai	TBR	5	13	L	4.37
	Houston Totals		10	29	0-4, -19	Eliminated
2'-8	Drew Rasmussen	Cin	8	2	W	3.72
4'-7	Joe Boyle	Cin	3	9	L	3.92
4'-7	Ryan Pepiot	Hou	13	5	W	4.02
2'-8	Shane McClanahan	Hou	3	0	W	3.35
	Tampa Totals		27	16	3-1, +11	Advances
PB-	Pod B Pitchers Final	Opp	Score	Allow	Result	Proj ERA
2'-9	Chris Sale	Bos	1	8	L	3.19
2'-7	Reynaldo López	Bos	4	2	w	4.06
2'-7	Spencer Strider	Tex	5	9	L	3.82
2'-8	Spencer Schwellenbach	Tex	4	2	W	3.65
	Atlanta totals		14	21	2-2, -7	Eliminated
2'-7	Ranger Suarez	Atl	2	4	l	3.74
2'-8	Garrett Crochet	Atl	8	1	W	3.02
2'-7	Connelly Early	Tex	2	3	l	3.65
2'-8	Sonny Gray	Tex	2	1	w	3.69
	Boston Totals		14	9	2-2, +5	Advances
2'-8	Nathan Eovaldi	Atl	2	4	L	3.65
2'-6	Jordan Montgomery	Atl	9	5	W	4.28
2'-7	MacKenzie Gore	Bos	3	2	w	3.82
4'-7	Kumar Rocker	Bos	1	2	l	4.23
	Texas Totals		15	13	2-2, +2	Eliminated

 

The Mets won their pool as well. They were No. 5 in the preseason power rankings but that was based on great projected cards of players who are injury prone, and continued that trend in this injury-laden season. However the injury free Statis-pro version advances after upsetting the Yankees and then sweeping the Marlins.