inning — and is considered day

  • December 26, 2018 9:41 PM PST
    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Working on a one-hitter with a 4-0 lead [url=http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-jorge-soler-jersey]http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-jorge-soler-jersey[/url] , Rich Hill had just set down Eduardo Nunez swinging for the first out of the seventh inning.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had seen enough. Walking to the mound, he signaled to the bullpen and Hill was gone. “Big mistake!” President Donald Trump tweeted.It was the beginning of another troubled outing for Los Angeles‘ bullpen in the World Series.Six relievers combined to give up eight of Boston’s nine runs over the final three innings in a 9-6 loss Saturday night that sent the Dodgers to the brink of elimination for the second straight year.“Watching the Dodgers/Red Sox final innings,” Trump tweeted. “It is amazing how a manager takes out a pitcher who is loose & dominating through almost 7 innings, Rich Hill of Dodgers, and brings in nervous reliever(s) who get shellacked. 4 run lead gone. Managers do it all the time, big mistake!”Roberts responded, saying, “I don’t know how many Dodger games he’s watched. I don’t think he’s privy to the conversation. That’s one man’s opinion.”Los Angeles trails 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Sunday at Dodger Stadium, where the Dodgers lost to Houston in Game 7 a year ago.Informed of Trump’s comments, Boston manager Alex Cora simply said, “Dave Roberts is a good manager.”When he was told of the presidential tweet, a subdued Hill said, “I didn’t read it.”Roberts and Hill talked in the sixth, with the 38-year-old left-hander telling his manager to keep an eye on him.“Right there, I know Rich did everything he could, competed, left everything out there,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to do a better job of picking him up.” Hill struck out seven and walked three in 6 1/3 innings with one run and one hit. He is just the second pitcher age 38 or older to post three World Series starts in which he’s allowed just one earned run [url=http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-drew-butera-jersey]http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-drew-butera-jersey[/url] , including two last year. Roger Clemens holds the record with four.Scott Alexander inherited a runner from Hill, who had issued a leadoff walk to Xander Bogaerts. Alexander walked Brock Holt and Roberts was quick with the hook.“It just didn’t work out the way we wanted,” Hill said. “We’ll move forward and concentrate on Sunday.”The Dodgers turned to Ryan Madson, brought in from the Nationals in August to bolster the ‘pen in high-leverage situations.It didn’t work. Madson gave up a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland, drawing the Red Sox within 4-3.The Dodgers turned to Kenley Jansen in the eighth for the second straight game.Bad move.The All-Star closer served up a one-out homer to Steve Pearce that tied the game at 4-all.“We’re all disappointed,” Jansen said. “We can’t question ourselves. It’s another day tomorrow. It’s not over until it’s over.”Hours earlier, Jansen gave up Jackie Bradley Jr.’s tying homer in the eighth inning of an epic Game 3, blowing his attempt at a six-out save in his third major World Series failure in two years.But the bullpen rallied, with eight relievers combining for 11 innings of five-hit ball in the longest World Series game in history. They mostly shut down Boston’s powerful lineup and the Dodgers eked out a 3-2, 18-inning victory in the 7-hour, 20-minute affair that ended early Saturday. Converted starter Alex Wood got the win by pitching out of trouble in the 18th after giving up a leadoff walk.Jansen struggled against Houston a year ago in the World Series, too.He gave up a solo homer to Marwin Gonzalez in Game 2 for his first blown save in the playoffs. That ended his major league record streak of converting his first 12 postseason save chances.In Game 5, he took the loss in a 10-inning defeat.The Dodgers ran through Dylan Floro, Wood and Kenta Maeda in the ninth when the Red Sox exploded for five runs, four of them with two outs. Floro gave up pinch-hitter Rafael Devers‘ go-ahead single with one out.“We have another chance,” Jansen said, “and we’ll give it our best shot.”It might be their last. The New York Yankees suffered a double loss on Sunday.The Yankees, heading for the American League wild card and fighting to maintain home-field advantage for that game against the Oakland A’s [url=http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-whit-merrifield-jersey]http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-whit-merrifield-jersey[/url] , failed to finish off a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, blowing a 3-0 lead and losing, 6-3.Then, after the game, New York manager Aaron Boone revealed Didi Gregorius suffered torn cartilage in his right wrist diving into home with the run that clinched the Yankees’ return to the postseason.Article continues below ...The shortstop received a cortisone injection and reported improvement after Sunday’s game.“Didi’s a great player and obviously I think everyone in this room understands how important he is to our team,” Boone said after the game. “Kind of an anchor for us defensively in the infield, and obviously what he brings from the left side of the plate. So, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but hopefully we get some good news here in a few days.” The most likely move for the Yankees, who finished their home schedule Sunday and open a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night in St. Petersburg, would be to shift Gleyber Torres back to second base and play Neil Walker at second with Gregorius out.Gregorius is batting .268, with a career-high 27 homers, 86 RBIs and 10 stolen bases this season.“Well it feels a little bit better now,” he said. “I know it happened yesterday during the game. I slid into home plate, my right hand got stuck. We were celebrating everything was fine. I went home, fine. I woke up this morning, it wasn’t feeling good. I came up here and we did an MRI. It showed I had a small tear in the wrist.”The Yankees maintained their 1 1/2-game lead over the Oakland A’s for home field in the wild card as the A’s lost to the Minnesota Twins in Oakland.The loss kept champagne on ice for the A’s, and allows the Rays to live another day in their late-season chase for the second wild card — the Oakland magic number remaining at 1.Blake Snell won his 21st game of the season and moved a step closer to the Rays’ second Cy Young Award Sunday in Toronto.While the Yankees have not named a starter for Monday [url=http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-cheslor-cuthbert-jersey]Cheslor Cuthbert Jersey[/url] , Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said he will start “opener” Diego Castillo, with rookie Ryan Yarbrough, a 15-game winner, getting the bulk of the innings.Monday is Luis Severino’s regular day but no starter had been announced for the visitors, who missed a chance to go a season-high 37 games over .500 Sunday.Snell joined David Price as the Rays’ only 20-game winners and passed Price for most wins in a season. His ERA is down to 1.90 and he struck out 11 in 6 2/3 scoreless innings Sunday.“I think he’s pretty much cemented his case that he belongs not just in the (Cy Young) conversation, but right at the top of the list,” Cash said.Said teammate Kevin Kiermaier: “If today wasn’t a final nod, then I don’t know what is. The guy is just absolutely dominant.”The Rays lead the season series with the Yankees 8-7, but have gone 5-1 against New York at the Trop.Willie Adames missed Sunday’s game for Tampa Bay because of illness and Kiermaier left the game after running into the wall in the eighth inning — and is considered day-to-day.For the Yankees, Aaron Hicks, who had the winning hit Saturday, fouled a ball off his ankle before getting the hit and was rested Sunday.The Yankees have three possibilities to start the wild-card game and will spend this week both trying to nail down the home field and getting things in line.“We want to be at home,” said Boone.The Yankees and A’s split six games this season, but the Yankees currently hold the tiebreaker for home field because of their divisional record (39-30/35-35).Severino is 7-2 with a 3.06 ERA lifetime against the Rays, 2-1 with a 3.43 in St. Petersburg. He is 2-1 against Tampa Bay this season but was strafed by the Rays in July.Mallex Smith is 3-for-10 (.300) against Severino, but both Jesus Sucre and Joey Wendle are 1-for-9 (.111).