Austin Wells finally broke the silence with a line drive down the right‑field line in the eighth, but his attempt to turn it into a triple ended with an easy out at third. “I’m trying to make something happen,” Wells admitted (h/t Jon Heyman of the New York Post). “Obviously, the risk was wrong.”
Ty France believed his ninth‑inning blast would win it for the Padres, but the ball struck a cable hanging from the roof at American Family Field and dropped into left‑fielder Jackson Chourio’s glove. Ground rules deem a roof‑hit that stays fair as live, so the call stood after review. Closer Trevor Megill then induced Jackson Merrill to line out, sealing the loss. “I haven’t really been able to fully process it,” France said (h/t AJ Cassavell and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). “But it was a game‑changing swing.”
Rays right‑hander Drew Rasmussen carried a no‑hit bid into the seventh in his final regular‑season start, helping clinch the AL East. He extended the effort into the eighth before Austin Wells’s double broke it up. Reliever Bryan Baker closed the ninth in order. For my money, Rasmussen’s near‑no‑hitter was the night’s standout performance.
Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts selected lefty Tarik Skubal to open Game 1, and the two‑time Cy Young winner delivered, allowing just one run and two hits over six innings while striking out seven. Blake Snell is slated for Game 2, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto lines up for Game 3. “We could have deployed our starters any way we wanted,” Roberts said (h/t Sonja Chen of MLB.com). “But to have Blake going tomorrow after Tarik’s effort and Yama in the holster for Game 3, we’re in a good spot.” Will this rotation give Los Angeles the edge it needs?