Guardians on brink of postseason elimination after Game 5 ALCS loss to Rays

CLEVELAND — If what manager Stephen Vogt says is true, that the Guardians play better when their backs are against the wall, his team is in an ideal position. Cleveland is on the brink of postseason elimination thanks to an uninspired 3-1 loss to the Rays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field on Sunday night. The series shifts to Tropicana Field, where the Guardians must win two games against a club that was tied for the best home record in baseball to clinch a World Series berth. "We don't like being in this position, but this is when this team thrives," a smiling Vogt said after Cleveland dropped its second straight at home after taking a 2-1 series lead. "We know we've got our work cut out for us. It's a really good team and a really good team when they play at home, especially. We know this is going to be tough, but if there's a group I'm betting on to get this done, it's our guys." A brief and ineffective outing from Parker Messick set the tone for the day. The rookie left-hander didn't make it past the second inning in the shortest outing of his career — including the regular season. As has been the case in nearly all of his four playoff starts, three ending in losses, Messick struggled with command. He threw 31 pitches in the first, followed by 26 in the second. He walked in the first run of the game in the opening inning and allowed Tampa to take a 2-0 lead on three hits in the second. With right-hander Drew Rasmussen on the mound, starting pitching wasn't a problem for the Rays. Rasmussen allowed two runs and struck out seven in six innings of Cleveland's 7-3 Game 1 win in Tampa and was even better this time around. The Guardians managed only a hit and two baserunners over the first five innings, finally getting to him for their lone run in the sixth after consecutive one-out singles from Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez. Rasmussen got assistance from his defense, which stole at least three hits from Cleveland. "It was the same thing as before, just edge (of the plate) to edge, so many different pitches, so much command," said Kwan, who had two of his team's five hits. "And it felt like even when he didn't hit his spot, he hit it on the other side and stayed in the zone. I don't think he got into too many bad pitcher counts. He filled the zone up, went right after us. That's why he's super effective." "I thought Rasmussen looked about as good as Game 1, elite strike thrower," Patrick Bailey said. "You kind of end up looking back at the game and be like: 'Wow, I got one pitch to hit. I got two pitches to hit.' And if we don't do damage with those or put those in play, he's a tough guy to have to play against." The Guardians brought the tying run to the plate in each of the last three innings. Bailey bounced into a double play after Nathaniel Lowe started the seventh with a base hit, Ramirez struck out after a two-out single from Kwan in the eighth and three straight went down after Chase DeLauter drew a leadoff walk in the ninth. "I think we're doing the hard part of getting guys on base, getting them in scoring position," Kwan said. "I feel like we were one hit away, but it just didn't come today." With a tall task in front of them, the Guardians can take some comfort in overcoming the situation before. They won two ALDS elimination games in Chicago before returning to Cleveland to clinch the series. "We understand that we've been in this position before and that we've played well under that kind of stress," said closer Cade Smith, who got the final out in the eighth before pitching a scoreless ninth. "Ironically, it seems like we played better on the road last series. So I think that as best we can, we'll try and remain neutral and just focus on what we can control and the way that we play and then let the context and the environment be secondary to that." "I think it'll help a ton knowing that we're able to do it facing elimination," Kwan said. "And I think we feel a little better on this one, as opposed to the other ones, since we've got some wins under our belt. We just have to trust our plans, turn the page and see what happens. We faced the same thing when we were in Chicago. So if we lose, that shouldn't be an excuse." Still, it's win or go home for the three-time Central Division champions, whose season ended in the ALCS two years ago. "We gotta play our best baseball. We gotta play clean, understanding that there's not a lot of margin for error," Smith said. "These are going to be tight, good games that we got to come out and play well and play like ourselves in order to win." "You don't count out the Guards. I think we showed that in the DS and I think we're all confident going in," Messick said. Vogt did not announce a Game 6 starting pitcher, but confirmed that right-hander Gavin Williams was not an option. Should the Guardians force a seventh game, Williams would likely get the nod. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.