CLEVELAND — Jonathan Aranda knew it was inevitable that Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and he would heat up at the plate for the Tampa Bay Rays.
They collectively did so on Saturday in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, allowing the Rays to pull even with the Cleveland Guardians at two wins apiece in the best-of-seven series with a 7-3 victory.
Aranda had three hits, drove in two and scored the go-ahead run on Caminero’s sixth-inning double, and Diaz belted a two-run homer as the trio combined to go 6-for-14 with four runs and five RBIs.
It is now guaranteed that the ALCS will return to St. Petersburg, Fla., for Game 6 on Monday. Game 5 will be played Sunday in Cleveland.
“To be honest, I felt like I was connecting with the ball the first couple of games, but just wasn’t getting the hits,” said Aranda, who was 0-for-10 in the first three contests against the Guardians. “In the postseason, there isn’t time to get down on yourself.
“It was just a matter of time for us to get going. Now, we can use this going forward.”
In the first three games, the Rays’ talented trio managed just five hits in 34 at-bats.
Caminero doubled sharply to score Aranda in the sixth and give Tampa Bay a 2-1 advantage against Daniel Espino (0-1). The Rays tacked on three runs in the seventh, two of them on Aranda’s single to right that Chase DeLauter misplayed for an error.
Aranda came around for his second run on Chandler Simpson’s sacrifice fly off Slade Cecconi later in the seventh, extending the Rays’ lead to 5-1. Yandy Diaz added a two-run homer in the ninth off Matt Festa to push Tampa Bay’s advantage to 7-3.
“I’m very happy for this group, and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” Caminero said. “I just enjoy the moment and enjoy the game. Everyone knows me, everyone knows who I am and everyone gives me support.”
Nick Martinez (1-0) pitched 5 1/3 strong innings for the win, allowing one run on two hits for AL East champion Tampa Bay. The right-hander struck out three and walked two, retiring 11 straight batters between the first and fifth innings.
AL Central champion Cleveland pulled within 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs against Ian Seymour. Travis Bazzana hit a solo homer and Brayan Rocchio later singled in Patrick Bailey, all with two outs.
“This is the ALCS, we obviously would have loved to have taken tonight,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “But we still have a three-game series ahead of us against a really good team. And I anticipate it going down to the wire.”
DeLauter gave the Guardians a 1-0 lead with a single in the first, bringing home Steven Kwan. Cleveland had failed to score in 13 innings against Martinez in the regular season, losing twice in two games.
The Rays tied it at 1-1 in the third on Aranda’s two-out single off Foster Griffin, scoring Diaz. Tampa Bay didn’t have a hit in its first time through the order, but leadoff batter Diaz doubled in his second at-bat.
“They’re just good hitters, so it was only a matter of time,” said Griffin, who gave up one run in 3 2/3 innings as the bulk reliever. “They hit a couple of balls hard and a couple balls that weren’t hit as hard, but fell through. But that’s baseball and we’ll move on to tomorrow.”
Guardians star Jose Ramirez went 0-for-3 with a walk, extending his on-base streak to 16 postseason games and tying the Cleveland franchise record.
The first-pitch temperature was 46 degrees. One night earlier, Cleveland experienced its first-ever postseason home rainout.
–Brian Dulik, Field Level Media
