Rays 7, Guardians 3: Aranda, an Error, and a Tied ALCS

The ball that was supposed to leave the yard stayed in Halpin's glove

October 17, 2026 - Cleveland - Junior Caminero hit a Foster Griffin fastball 110 mph to the deepest part of Progressive Field. Statcast had tracked 264 balls at that speed and launch window. All 264 were home runs. This one was not. Petey Halpin went up at the nook where the 19-foot left-field wall meets the 9-foot center-field wall, caught it, and slammed into the padding.

The Associated Press recap put the catch in the fourth. Halpin told that recap the wall was forgiving. Caminero still had the sixth.

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in American League Championship Series Game 4. The series is tied 2-2. Friday's rainout pushed this one to Saturday. First pitch 8:08 p.m. Partly cloudy. 46 degrees. Wind 5 mph, left to right. Attendance 33,355. Three hours, 10 minutes.

Tampa Bay finished with 11 hits, one homer, and no errors. Cleveland finished with eight hits, one homer, and two errors. That is the file.

One run on a throw that got DeLauter, then 10 in a row

Shawn Armstrong opened the night and threw a scoreless first on 13 pitches. Yandy Díaz took a called third strike. Jonathan Aranda grounded to second. Chandler Simpson reached when Travis Bazzana booted a ball. Caminero forced him at second.

Nick Martinez did not get a clean first. Steven Kwan lined a single to left. José Ramírez popped to second. Chase DeLauter ripped a line drive to right. Kwan scored. Victor Mesa Jr. threw to Taylor Walls, and DeLauter was out trying to stretch it. Jo Adell flew to left. 1-0 Cleveland.

Martinez then retired 10 in a row. The Associated Press recap put the streak as 10 straight before Bazzana walked to start the fifth. Patrick Bailey bounced into a double play. The 1-0 lasted two innings.

Griffin took over in the second and struck out Mesa and Jonny DeLuca. He struck out Richie Palacios and Walls to start the third. Then Díaz doubled to right, and Aranda, who the MLB recap had at 0-for-11 in the ALCS when he stepped in, lined a single to center. Díaz scored. 1-1.

Halpin's catch in the fourth kept it there. Mesa singled after it. DeLuca forced him. Palacios singled in the fifth. Walls hit into a double play. Griffin's night: 3 2/3 innings, four hits, one earned, no walks, five strikeouts, 44 pitches.

Two walks, a 110.2 mph double, and a throw home

Daniel Espino inherited the sixth. He walked Aranda. He walked Simpson. Caminero, who had gone 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Game 3, doubled 110.2 mph over a leaping Ramírez and into the left-field corner. Aranda scored. Simpson went to third. 2-1, Tampa Bay.

The MLB recap had Caminero on second, beating his chest and howling toward the dugout. "I feel good, especially because we're winning. That's how we play right now," he told MLB.com. "You asked me the last game about the four strikeouts, and look at today. That's about the baseball."

Tim Herrin came on. Ben Williamson pinch-hit for Liam Hicks. Nathaniel Lowe threw Simpson out at the plate. Mesa struck out. DeLuca popped to Brayan Rocchio. The extra run never scored.

Martinez walked Halpin to start the bottom of the sixth. That was enough. Freddy Peralta, who had started Game 2 and thrown six scoreless, needed nine pitches to get the last two outs: Kwan to Cedric Mullins, Ramírez walked, DeLauter to Mullins in center. Martinez's line: 5 1/3 innings, two hits, one earned, two walks, three strikeouts, 79 pitches, the win (1-0). The Associated Press recap put him at 3-0 against Cleveland this season, one run in 18 1/3 innings.

It was 46 degrees, the coldest postseason game in Rays history, that recap said. "To look at ticky-tack stuff like that about the weather, honestly, you're just so jacked up to be pitching in these moments you're not really thinking about the weather," Martinez told the AP.

Palacios and Walls stole, then the ball went under the glove

Herrin started the seventh. Palacios chopped a single that Rocchio deflected. Slade Cecconi inherited first. Walls singled to right. Palacios stole third. Walls stole second. Díaz took a called third strike.

Aranda lined a single past a diving Bazzana, who the AP recap had playing in on the grass. Palacios scored. The ball went under DeLauter's glove. Walls scored from second. Aranda went to third. The official scoring gave Aranda two RBI and DeLauter the error.

"Put that one on me," DeLauter told ESPN. "You miss a ground ball and give up two runs -- essentially give up three. It's my fault he's on third base. It sucks."

Stephen Vogt, in the same ESPN recap: "It looked like it may have snaked on him or just skipped by him, took his eye off of it."

Simpson's sacrifice fly to DeLauter scored Aranda. 5-1. Caminero took a called third strike. The inning that was going to stay a 2-1 had become a four-run lead.

Cleveland answered. Ian Seymour struck out Adell and retired Lowe. Bazzana then hit his first postseason homer, a line drive to right. 5-2. Bailey singled. Angel Martínez, pinch-hitting for Halpin, singled. Rocchio singled Bailey home. 5-3. The MLB recap said Kwan split his lip sliding into first trying to keep the inning alive. He grounded to Aranda. The rally stopped there.

Palacios singled in the ninth. Walls bunted him over. Díaz, 0-2, sent Matt Festa to right for a two-run homer, his first of this postseason. 7-3. The AP recap called it an add-on. It was also the last run.

Kevin Kelly and Cam Booser got through the eighth after Adell singled. Bryan Baker closed the ninth: Bazzana singled, Bailey hit into a double play, Martínez struck out.

The top of Tampa Bay's order had gone 7-for-41 with three RBI in the first three ALCS games, the AP recap said. Saturday, Díaz, Aranda, Simpson, and Caminero had six of the 11 hits and six RBI. Aranda finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Díaz went 2-for-5 with a double, a homer, and two RBI. Palacios went 3-for-4 with two runs and a steal.

"A lot of really good at-bats. A lot of hard hits," Kevin Cash told the AP. "But overall, just happy that Junior squared some balls up, Aranda came through in a big way for us and then Yandy there at the end with a add-on homer."

Aranda, through interpreter Kevin Vera in that recap: "It was just a matter of time to get going. We can use this going forward."

Sunday is Game 5, then the Trop is guaranteed

Game 5 is Sunday at Progressive Field, 5:08 p.m. ET. Parker Messick starts for Cleveland. Drew Rasmussen starts for Tampa Bay. There is no travel day after Friday's rainout. Game 6 is Monday at Tropicana Field because Tampa Bay won Saturday.

Cash, in the MLB recap: "We've got a huge game, another swing game tomorrow, which [Parker] Messick is pitching for them. That should be quite the pitching matchup. But it is nice to guarantee a game back there for our fans to see."

Vogt, in the same recap: "This is the ALCS. We obviously would have loved to have taken tonight, but we still have a three-game series ahead of us against a really good team. And I anticipate it going down to the wire."

Bazzana told the AP to flush it. Cleveland has already come back from 0-2 against the White Sox in the ALDS. Saturday did not end the series. It reset it.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Tampa Bay at 14 team fantasy points on a 7-3. Cleveland sat at -2. Martinez had 14.33 pitching FP. Griffin sat second at 8.66 on 3 2/3 and five strikeouts without a quality start (six innings and three earned or fewer). Aranda led hitters at 8. Díaz and Bazzana sat at 7. Fantasy points measure the night. Share price is what the market pays. They move together, but they are not the same number. See dynamic pricing.

Track the Rays and Guardians on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; MLB.com recap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; ESPN recap; Associated Press recap via ESPN; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*