The Rays offense couldn’t get going tonight as Kershaw put his postseason struggles aside and pitched an absolute gem. Game 1 of the 2020 World Series goes to the Dodgers.
Game 1 of the 2020 World Series is in the books and the Rays went down swinging early and often. Clayton Kershaw turned back the clock to 2014 and was back to his dominate ways tonight as the Dodgers defeated the Rays by a score of 8-3.
The Rays had 38 swings vs Kershaw tonight, 19 of them were misses. Our guys breakdown the dominance that @Dodgers' Kershaw brought in Game 1.@davidortiz | @arod | @TheBigHurt_35 | @kevinburkhardt pic.twitter.com/Emivqs6O8t
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 21, 2020
Kershaw’s day ended after 6 innings of one run ball while striking out 8 Rays. A grand performance on the grandest stage.
Belli bomb
And a bomb it was. In the 4th inning of a scoreless game, Cody Bellinger came to the plate with a man on and did want the reigning NL MVP does best — hit bombs.
BELLI BOMB!
The NLCS Game 7 hero scores the first runs of the World Series! pic.twitter.com/gIzRLbInSR
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 21, 2020
The homer had an exit velocity of 107.8 MPH and an estimated distance of 378 feet.
Kiermaier answers
Lefty on lefty crime as Kevin Kiermaier took Kershaw deep in the top of the 5th inning to cut the Dodgers lead in half.
The longest tenured Ray gives us our first run of the #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/fMORxpu5CJ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 21, 2020
The Kiermaier home run snapped a streak of 13 batters retired in a row by Kershaw. Unfortunately for the Rays, that spark was not enough to rattle Kershaw tonight.
Glasnow’s leash a little too long tonight
Heading into the bottom of the 5th, facing the Dodgers lineup for a third time, Cash decided to leave his electric righty on the mound. Already with over 80 pitches, Glasnow surrendered back to back walks to start the inning and it was down hill from there.
“I think ultimately a lack of strike throwing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said when asked about Glasnow’s evening. “I looked up at one point and I think he was at 37 strikes and 37 balls. That’s not ideal.”
“The at-bat with [Max] Muncy right there, just felt like he was the best guy to get a strike out. We needed a strike out after we weren’t able to hold the runners… felt like Glas still with his stuff was equipped to get a strikeout,” Cash explained on why he left Glasnow in the game after the back to back walks to start the 5th inning.
Glasnow’s final line finished as follows: 4.1 innings, 3 hits, 6 walks, 6 earned runs, 8 strikeouts, 112 pitches/58 strikes
As Cash mentioned multiple times in his post game interview, not ideal.
Mookie’s marvelous night
Tonight Mookie Betts proved his worth on the biggest stage in baseball. As if he hasn’t been proving his worth since he’s been in the bigs, but you get my point.
It was Betts who led off the 5th inning with a walk, the walk that eventually began the demise of Glasnow. He then proceeded to steal not one — but two bases. And with a great lead and jump, he then scored on a ground ball to first base — the Max Muncy at-bat.
(Also, for the second time in his career, Betts stole a base in the World Series to give everyone free tacos from Taco Bell! So at least we have that.)
Betts then led off the bottom of 6th inning with an opposite field home run to extend the Dodgers lead to 7-1, a lead they never looked back on. It was his first postseason home run in a Dodgers uniform.
Up Next
Game 2 of the World Series is scheduled for Wednesday night. First pitch will be at 8:08 PM ET and the game can be seen on FOX. The Rays have announced that Blake Snell (2-2; 3.20) will be their starter while Tony Gonsolin (0-1; 9.95) will start for the Dodgers.
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