Rays have just enough offense
Playoff sensation Arozarena belts another home run
SAN DIEGO — Randy Arozarena homered again at Petco Park and Mike Zunino drove in the goahead run for the Rays, who beat the Astros 2-1 on Sunday night in the opener of the American League Championship Series.
Blake Snell allowed Jose Altuve’s homer as he labored through the first inning on 29 pitches before the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner settled down to pitch five innings for the win.
Diego Castillo got five outs for the save. He came on with the bases-loaded with one out in the eighth and got out of it with one pitch when Yuli Gurriel grounded into a double play. Aaron Loup had loaded the bases on a hit batter, walk and single.
Castillo threw 29 pitches in two innings Friday in the 2-1 win against the Yankees that clinched the AL Division Series.
“I was going to be ready,” he said through a translator. “I knew with the day off yesterday, I came to the stadium prepared. I just came ready to pitch.”
The Rays have leaned on their bullpen all season.
“I think the job he did sums up his whole year,” said Zunino, the catcher. “He stepped up big for us. He’s been throwing a lot in big situations for us. We had an idea who we might be able to go to, but him coming in there showing what he’s made out of says a lot about what those guys in the bullpen have done for us all year.”
Game 2 is Monday afternoon, when the Rays turn to 36-year- old Charlie Morton, who was with the Astros when they won the 2017 World Series. Houston counters with Lance McCullers Jr.
Zunino singled past diving shortstop Carlos Correa to bring in Willy Adames with the go-ahead run with two outs in the fifth off lefty Framber Valdez. Adames reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on consecutive groundouts to Valdéz.
Arozarena continued his breakout postseason with his fourth homer in six games, sending a 1-2 pitch from Valdez to center field with one out in the fourth to tie it at 1. He homered in each of the first three games of the AL Division Series against the Yankees, also in San Diego.
Nicknamed “The Cuban Rocket,” Arozarena defected to Mexico in 2015 and signed as a free agent with the Cardinals in 2016. He made his big-league debut last year and was traded to the Rays in the offseason.
He tested positive for COVID-19 during intake testing before summer camp and didn’t make his 2020 season debut until Aug. 30.
The only Rays with more homers in a postseason are Melvin Upton Jr. with seven and Evan Longoria with six, both in 2008.