Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 4

Division Series Day 1 Delivers 1 Broken No-Hit Bid, 1 Four-Inning Save and 1 Roof-Rule Twist

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 4

Division Series Day 1 Delivers 1 Broken No-Hit Bid, 1 Four-Inning Save and 1 Roof-Rule Twist

Q: How did a modern closer manage to outlast his own starter in a historic four-inning postseason save?

Grant Taylor did it because the White Sox designed Game 1 as a bullpen game and treated their closer less like a one-inning specialist and more like a multi-inning weapon. After opener Hagen Smith got only 2 2/3 innings, manager Will Venable kept handing the game through matchup relievers until Taylor entered in the sixth with a 2-0 lead and simply never gave the ball back. Taylor was efficient enough to justify it. He threw just 42 pitches, 34 for strikes, across four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out six. Cleveland whiffed repeatedly at his curveball, and Venable said the key indicator was that Taylor’s fastball command never faded, unlike in a previous longer outing. By the ninth, the White Sox briefly even announced another pitcher in the press box, then corrected it because Taylor was still going. That made the outing historically rare. It was only the sixth postseason save of at least four innings since the modern save rule began in 1969, and the first since Lance McCullers Jr. in 2017. Taylor also became only the second pitcher in that span to record more outs than his own starter in a postseason game, finishing with 12 outs to Smith’s eight. His background helps explain how he could handle it. Taylor is a former starter who converted to relief in the minors, so Chicago has been willing all year to stretch him beyond the modern closer template. In this game, that flexibility became a postseason blueprint.

Q: What drove a Yankees catcher to make a costly baserunning blunder that cemented one of baseball's rarest historical oddities?

Austin Wells was driven by urgency and overaggression in a game where the Yankees had generated almost nothing against Drew Rasmussen. Wells himself said he was “just trying to make something happen” in a 1-0 game, with “not really much going on,” and that “every 90 feet mattered.” After ripping the Yankees’ first hit of the night with two outs in the eighth, he tried to turn a double into a triple to get into better scoring position, especially knowing a runner on third could score more easily on a single. The mistake was compounded by timing and misread judgment. Wells said he did not pick up third-base coach Luis Rojas’ stop sign until after he had already passed second and felt “already committed.” He also appeared to misjudge the carom and perhaps the strength of Tampa Bay’s relay, with the Rays executing clean throws to cut him down at third. Manager Aaron Boone called it “obviously not a good decision” and “a mistake,” while outside observers framed it as a classic case of a player pressing in a low-scoring postseason game. That split-second gamble not only erased the Yankees’ only baserunner in scoring position, it also produced the historical oddity: Rasmussen’s no-hit bid ended on a play that was scored a hit and an out, one of the rarest no-hitter breakers on record.

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 4

Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth against the Yankees before Austin Wells broke it up with a double — then was thrown out at third for the inning’s final out in Tampa Bay’s 1-0 win.
STATS found only 1 other no-hit bid since 1974 that ended on a hit where the batter was also retired, making Wells’ double-and-out one of the rarest postseason scoring sequences on record.
Grant Taylor then closed the White Sox’s 3-0 Game 1 win in Cleveland with a 4-inning, 42-pitch save, only the sixth postseason save of at least four innings since the rule began in 1969.
Milwaukee added another oddity when Ty France’s apparent ninth-inning go-ahead homer struck the roof at American Family Field and dropped into play for an out, reviving debate over dome interference in October.
The opening day’s other standout notes included Jacob Misiorowski hitting 104.8 mph for the fastest postseason pitch in the Statcast era and Max Muncy setting the Dodgers’ postseason record with 17 homers.

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The New York Times9h ago

Division Series Day 1: No-Hitter Broken by Out, Rare 4-Inning Save, Dome Interference

How did a modern closer manage to outlast his own starter in a historic four-inning postseason save?

What drove a Yankees catcher to make a costly baserunning blunder that cemented one of baseball's rarest historical oddities?

Will a controversial dome interference play finally force baseball to rewrite its stadium ground rules forever?

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1 total

The New York Times9h ago

Division Series Day 1: No-Hitter Broken by Out, Rare 4-Inning Save, Dome Interference

Division Series Day 1 Delivers 1 Broken No-Hit Bid, 1 Four-Inning Save and 1 Roof-Rule Twist

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