Drew Rasmussen’s World Series night started with a cushion and ended with the Rays staring at a 2-0 deficit.
The former Oregon State ace took the ball Saturday for Tampa Bay against the Milwaukee Brewers and opened with a jolt of support from his offense, which put up four runs in the top of the first. Milwaukee answered right away, though, trimming the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning and then forcing Rasmussen into a grind from there.
He settled in briefly by working through the second and third without a run, but the Brewers pushed across another score in the fourth and chased him from the game in that frame. Milwaukee added three more runs the rest of the way and held on for a 5-4 win at home.
Rasmussen finished with 3 and 2/3 innings pitched and 89 pitches thrown. He gave up six hits, three runs, and two walks while striking out four.
Through four postseason starts, Rasmussen now has 27 strikeouts and five walks while allowing six runs on 19 hits.
"I thought early on my command wasn’t very good,” Rasmussen said of his appearance on Saturday. “I felt like I was falling behind far too often to expect good results. And then from there, they found themselves in some hitters’ counts and were able to find holes.”
Kevin Cash echoed that assessment afterward.
"Just wasn't as sharp, wasn't as crisp," Cash said. "I thought after the second inning, the third inning, he kind of settled in and started throwing some good changeups, but Milwaukee, you know, they put together a bunch of good at bats throughout the entirety of the game and certainly his outing, Rass did everything he could compete and just felt like he just wasn't as sharp as he,as he's been for quite some time."
Now Tampa Bay gets to head home to St. Petersburg, Florida, where it will play games three, four, and five if needed. Rasmussen said the club is eager to get back to work in front of its own crowd.
“Obviously, we’re excited to head back home. I mean, it would be really nice to have won today. Our offense, I would say they’re pretty confident when they spot our pitching staff a four-run lead, that we’re going to go ahead and get the job done," Rasmussen said.
The Rays will try to begin digging out of the hole Monday night in game three, with first pitch set for 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET on Fox. If the series reaches a game six, Rasmussen would likely be back on the mound.
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