Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash got the call he wanted but not the result in the end for Game 1 of the World Series.
Officials overturned a double play in the ninth inning, but the Rays couldn’t come up with one more hit in a 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. It doesn’t have his team fazed at all with Game 2 right around the corner on Saturday.
“This is an extremely confident group,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters afterward. “They’re going to be fine [after the Game 1 loss]. I think the frustration comes from … we were one swing of the bat away right at the end of potentially taking the lead.”
Tampa Bay entered the ninth inning down 3-1, and the Rays loaded the bases with one out after third baseman Junior Caminero talked. The Rays looked ready to grab the lead, but the Brewers shut the door at least at first with a double play.
Cash had the double play challenge, and officials overturned it, which gave the Rays a run. Shortstop Jorge Mateo crossed home plate after catcher Liam Hicks put the ball in play, and Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt didn’t have his foot on second base properly, which negated the double play on his throw to first base.
Milwaukee didn’t back down, as relief pitcher Trevor Megill fanned right fielder Jonny DeLuca to end the game.
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Cash went to his go-to guy in Rays replay coordinator Nick Rogers after the apparent double play.
“It looked like a close play,” Cash said. “I think Nick Rogers did a good job of recognizing that it was really close. In the moment, I don’t think he felt too strongly about it, but at that point, why not challenge it.”
Tampa Bay had nothing to lose, and it worked for the moment with a 3-2 deficit and just one out in the top of the ninth. Cash’s crew couldn’t get one more runner across, but the Rays will get another shot in Game 2 on Saturday.
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