The Cleveland Guardians reached the seventh inning of Saturday’s Game 4 down 2-1, still within striking distance, but the Tampa Bay Rays put together a three-run rally to put some ground between the two squads and, despite a late scare, secure a 7-3 win at Progressive Field. The American League Championship Series is now tied at two victories per side.
Just as the Guardians were the better team on Thursday’s Game 3, it’s safe to say that the Rays played better, cleaner baseball on Saturday and deserved to win. Cleveland, on the other hand made two defensive errors and had just two hits entering the seventh inning. By the time the offense woke up, it was too late.
Best of 3.#GuardsBall | #StandGuard pic.twitter.com/bZc9vokGwy
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 18, 2026
Cleveland actually took the lead in the bottom of the first, with an RBI single by Chase DeLauter that he tried to stretch into a double, being thrown out in the process. He drove in Steven Kwan.
The Rays tied the game in the top of the third against bulk reliever Foster Griffin. Jonathan Aranda singled in Yandy Diaz, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
Shawn Armstrong was the opener for the Guardians and tossed a scoreless first. Then, Griffin followed, and allowed just that lone run over 3.2 frames in which he struck out five. Until that point, and even when Daniel Espino entered the game and struck out Yandy Diaz to wrap up the fifth, Cleveland’s pitching plan was working to perfection.
The issues started in the top of the sixth, though. Espino hurt himself with consecutive walks to Aranda and Chandler Simpson. Then, with no outs, Junior Caminero hit a run-scoring double that gave Tampa the lead.
Espino was taken out of the game, and Tim Herrin impressively got out of the inning with no further damage. Unfortunately, the momentum wouldn’t last long for Cleveland.
In the top of the seventh, Richie Palacios got on base on an infield single, which brought in reliever Slade Cecconi. The righty surrendered another single to Taylor Walls. The runners then executed a double steal, and while Cecconi struck out Diaz to get the first out, Aranda came through with a two-run single, aided by the infield playing in and an ugly fielding error by DeLauter. That play made it a 4-1 ballgame. Simpson’s sac fly put the fifth run on the scoreboard for Tampa, driving in Aranda, who reached third on DeLauter’s blunder.
Rays take a 4-1 lead on a Jonathan Aranda single that gets by Chase DeLauterpic.twitter.com/HHNNDcuem4
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) October 18, 2026
The Guardians’ hitters came alive in the bottom of the seventh, after two outs. Ian Seymour retired Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe without much issue, but then surrendered a solo homer to Travis Bazzana and proceeded to allow consecutive singles to Patrick Bailey, Angel Martinez, and Brayan Rocchio, the later producing Cleveland’s third run.
Diaz, however, would hit the dagger in the top of the ninth: a two-run homer off Matt Festa, who was pitching for the first time since Sept. 25. to extend the Rays’ lead to four runs again. Cleveland couldn’t recover.
Six Guardians racked up exactly one hit. Bazzana, who went 2-for-3 with the homer, was the only one with two. He had a rough defensive game, but at least his bat woke up on Saturday.
DeLauter drove in a run and so did Rocchio. The Guardians bullpen got off to a nice start thanks to Griffin’s efforts, but Espino, Herrin, Cecconi, and Festa all ended up conceding at least one run.
The series will continue on Sunday at 5 pm ET. Parker Messick is expected to take the ball for the Guardians.
NEXT: Steven Kwan Reveals What Guardians Players Did During Game 4 Rain Delay
