In a head-spinning span of four batters Wednesday night,
On a night when the Rays enjoyed a two-homer awakening from
The struggles of rookies Gonsolin and May are particularly pronounced. The unusual October schedule has prompted Roberts to use both youngsters in a hybrid role. It’s resulted in a combined 7.02 ERA in the playoffs after a combined 2.46 ERA in the regular season.\n\n“It's a big ask, to be quite frank,” Roberts said. “People have to adjust to certain roles. And when you're talking about playing seven days in a row and how you can get as many outs as you can in the \\[NL\\]CS, yeah, these guys are in uncharted territory. A credit to them, they're not making excuses … but we still need those guys to get important outs going forward for us to win this thing.”\n\n• LA's bats get good looks at 'leverage' arms
Juxtapose the Dodgers’ dilemma against what the Rays received from Snell. He staved off the inconsistencies he’s shown this season long enough for Tampa Bay to take control of the game.\n\nFor 4 2/3 no-hit innings, Snell was aggressive in the zone and especially effective with his slider.\n\n“I attacked the zone really well, mixed it really well and just did a good job keeping them off balance,” Snell said. “They’re a pretty selective team, with a couple guys that are aggressive, so I had a pretty good game plan of what I had to do to have success against these guys.”\n\n• G2 by the numbers: History for Seager, Snell
Snell finally came undone with two outs in the fifth. After Enrique Hernández drew a two-out walk,
The two teams traded runs in the sixth, with Manuel Margot’s RBI single and
Thursday’s day off is a reset for the arms, but the Rays’ Game 2 win was a reset of the Series. It wasn’t a must-win for Tampa Bay in a mathematical sense, but it felt like one in an emotional sense, because the Dodgers will have a -- yes, rested -- ace in