Sports · NEWS EXPLAINER
Rays beat Guardians 7–3 to tie the ALCS as Aranda and Caminero wake up the lineup
Jonathan Aranda collected three hits, Junior Caminero drove in the go-ahead run and Tampa Bay turned a 1–1 game into a 7–3 win that reset the series to a best of three.
Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 7–3 in ALCS Game 4 on October 17, tying the best-of-seven series 2–2. Junior Caminero’s sixth-inning double broke a 1–1 tie, Jonathan Aranda finished with three hits and two RBIs, and Nick Martinez allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings.
Caminero broke the tie in the sixth
Cleveland scored first on Chase DeLauter’s RBI single in the opening inning. Tampa Bay answered in the third when Yandy Díaz doubled and Aranda singled him home.
The game stayed tied until Caminero drove Daniel Espino’s pitch off the left-field wall at 110.2 mph, scoring Aranda for a 2–1 lead. The hit mattered because it turned a low-scoring game before Cleveland’s defensive problems widened the margin.
A three-run seventh separated the teams
Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls opened the seventh with singles, then advanced on a double steal. Aranda’s hit scored Palacios and got past right fielder Chase DeLauter, allowing Walls to score as well.
Aranda reached third on the play and scored on Chandler Simpson’s sacrifice fly. The inning moved Tampa Bay from a one-run lead to a 5–1 cushion; the error extended the damage but did not create the rally by itself.
Cleveland answered, but the gap held
Travis Bazzana homered in the bottom of the seventh and Brayan Rocchio added an RBI single, cutting the score to 5–3. That response kept the game within two runs rather than ending the contest in the top half.
Yandy Díaz’s two-run homer in the ninth restored the four-run margin. The final 7–3 score therefore combines Tampa Bay’s seventh-inning break with late insurance, not one uninterrupted blowout.
Aranda reversed an 0-for-10 start
Aranda entered Game 4 without a hit in his first 10 at-bats of the series. He finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs, including the run that put Tampa Bay ahead.
Díaz, Aranda, Simpson and Caminero combined for six of Tampa Bay’s 11 hits and drove in six runs. That production explains the change at the top of the order without turning one game into a claim about the rest of the series.
Martinez gave Tampa Bay the stable start it needed
Martinez allowed one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings, struck out three and walked two. After DeLauter’s first-inning single, he retired 11 consecutive hitters between the first and fifth innings, according to Reuters.
The win tied the series at 2–2 and guaranteed a return to St. Petersburg for Game 6. Game 5 remains in Cleveland, so Game 4 reset the ALCS to a best of three rather than giving Tampa Bay control of the series.
