World Series Game 1: Rays rely on Matz, Kelly, Cleavinger and Sulser after Brewers test top bullpen arms

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

The Tampa Bay Rays absorbed a 3-2 World Series defeat in Game 1 on Friday night at American Family Field, and their bullpen usage became the central storyline as Milwaukee’s late rally came after Tampa Bay deployed a less typical group of relievers instead of leaning on its most familiar late-inning arms. When the game was still within reach after five innings, Milwaukee took the lead and then kept it by turning to its top bullpen pieces: Abner Uribe was used for four outs, Aaron Ashby for five outs, and closer Trevor Megill for the final three outs. Notably, DL Hall warmed up for potential left-handed matchups but did not enter the game. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash took a different path once the Rays needed bullpen help in the World Series opener. Rather than bringing in top lefty Cam Booser, setup man Tyler Wells, or closer Bryan Baker, Cash used veteran lefty Steven Matz, right-hander Kevin Kelly, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger, and veteran Cole Sulser. The Rays did not present them as low-leverage options in a traditional sense, but the choice reflected that these arms had not been asked to carry as much of the high-pressure workload recently as other members of Tampa Bay’s bullpen. As described by Cash, the Rays’ trio of higher-profile options on Friday night for Milwaukee—Uribe, Ashby and Megill—each faced multiple batters, creating a detailed scouting look at the Brewers’ most reliable late-game arms. Uribe faced four batters, Ashby saw five, and Megill worked against six batters while allowing a run in the ninth. The Rays’ Game 1 run prevention and ultimate prevention of further scoring rested heavily on Matz and Kelly in the seventh inning. Matz returned for a second inning of work and issued a leadoff walk, and then Kelly surrendered a two-out RBI single to Jackson Chourio, a sequence that produced the eventual game-winning run. Cash characterized the bullpen execution as effective overall, emphasizing how the Rays handled traffic once the game entered the late stages. “I felt like our bullpen came in and did a really nice job,” Cash said. He added that Chourio’s decisive hit came on a ball Jonathan Aranda could not handle cleanly, and Cash credited Tampa Bay’s relief group with navigating late-inning situations where base runners appeared. The strategic question now is whether Tampa Bay can turn those Game 1 innings into an advantage as the series continues, with two specific factors connected to how relievers were used on Friday. First, Tampa Bay received a long look at Milwaukee’s best bullpen options and, according to Cash, there is a belief in the organization that repeated matchups can carry a cost over a longer series. Cash linked that idea directly to the Rays’ scouting advantage from seeing Uribe, Ashby and Megill take on familiar Tampa Bay hitters. “There’s some benefit, maybe, from a loss. We saw Ashby. We saw Uribe. We saw Megill,” Cash said. He framed the exposure as something that could help Tampa Bay move forward by studying how those arms perform against the same approach across multiple games. The second factor in Tampa Bay’s Game 1 bullpen plan was what the Rays did not do. Even with the Rays trailing for much of the game, Cash did not use Bryan Baker, Cam Booser, Tyler Wells, or Ian Seymour, and he also did not turn to a starter in relief such as Freddy Peralta or Griffin Jax. In the same vein, the Rays limited workload among the arms they called, with Matz throwing 31 pitches to get five outs, while Kelly faced four batters on 12 pitches and Cleavinger worked against three batters on 10 pitches. Sulser faced only one batter, throwing four pitches. Tampa Bay’s choice to avoid burning higher-usage postseason assets also meant that Game 1 did not come with the burden of forcing unfamiliar relievers into repeated high-leverage spots on short notice. Instead, the Rays leaned on a slate of arms that were available for that particular game and could be re-set for later outings. Looking ahead to the next contest, the Rays are expected to use ace Drew Rasmussen in Game 2 on Saturday night. Tampa Bay will also be presenting a different look to whichever Milwaukee hitters the Brewers have available against Rasmussen after Game 1 showed how much the Brewers could rely on their late-inning relievers once the bullpen door opened.

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