Rays face must win game tonight against the Dodgers

After last night’s 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Rays are faced with their biggest game of the 2020 season tonight.

The Rays trail the Dodgers two games to one in the World Series and must-win game four tonight if they want to give themselves a chance to win the series.

Charlie Morton looked ordinary as he gave up five of the six Dodger runs in just over four innings of work.

Morton had been the Rays best post-season pitcher going into game three of the World Series, but the Dodgers jumped on him early taking an early 1-0 lead. The Dodgers continued to chip away and gradually added to the lead.

Morton was not nearly as sharp as he was in game seven of the ALCS against Houston.

“I wasn’t particularly sharp,” Morton said. “I felt like I was able to get to two strikes pretty quickly with a lot of guys and just not able to put them away. Even some of those pitches where I was getting ahead, actually a lot of them, they just weren’t very well executed. Then there is the fourth and fifth, stuff wasn’t there, the command wasn’t there. And they’re just too good for that.”

Morton admitted that he never really felt comfortable in the game and had trouble with two strikes.

The Rays now are faced with their biggest game of the season with Ryan Yarbrough starting. This could turn into a bullpen game for the Rays, depending on how the first couple of go for Yarbrough.

Kevin Cash admitted that this an important game for the Rays to win.

“We need to find a way to win, that’s for sure. I don’t think any of us are concerned with Kershaw right now. We need to be concerned with Julio Urias. He’s pretty talented, too. Go out there and get some good at-bats going early on.

Once again, as we have seen too often this season, the Rays offense was cold as ice.

Getting four hits and a solo homer is not a good recipe for beating this Dodgers team.

Randy Arozarena, the ALCS MVP, hit a solo homer in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 6-2.

The rookie outfielder set a couple of records last night in the loss. Arozarena’s eighth-inning homer was his eighth of the post-season. That ties the record shared by Nelson Cruz, Carlos Beltrán, and Barry Bonds for a single postseason.

Arozarena also passed Hall of Famer Derek Jeter for most hits by a rookie in the post-season. Arozarena now has 23 post-season hits, which breaks the record of 22 set by Jeter in 1996.

The Rays are hitting .206 in the series with four home runs and 11 runs batted in.

The Rays inept offense so far is not the worst offensive performance that we have seen in the World Series.

The 1995 Cleveland Indians hit .179 in the fall classic, the 2001 New York Yankees hit .183, the 2010 Texas Rangers, and the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals both hit .190.

It is frustrating to watch this Rays offense just swing away. They are swinging at a lot of bad pitches that are out of the strike zone.

The Rays need to be more patient at the plate, work the count, and make the Dodgers pitchers work. Get that pitch count up.

The Dodgers bullpen is vulnerable. We saw that in the bullpen game that the dodgers used against the Rays in game two.

Julio Urias will pitch for the Dodgers tonight. He has not pitched in the World Series, so will be well-rested.

Ryan Yarbrough will open for the Rays.

This, is a must-win game for the Rays. You cannot afford to go down three games to one to this Dodgers team.

Let’s hope the Rays can break out of their offensive slump and get back in the series tonight.

Let’s go Rays.