The Rays stumbled out of the gate in their first postseason game with sloppy defense that set the tone for a rough night. Yandy Díaz misplayed a grounder early, and though it wasn’t ruled an error, it disrupted the play and prevented an out. He followed it with a rushed throw to Tyler Glasnow that couldn’t be handled. Later, another grounder slipped under a glove for a ruled hit, but again showed poor fundamental defense. Then came a clear error on an off-target throw that let the runner advance to third.
Things didn’t get better. A spinning infield attempt turned into another throwing error. In center field, a playable ball wasn’t tracked well, leading to a costly base hit. Glasnow added to the trouble with a wild pitch that brought in a run. The worst came with runners on when a diving attempt came up short, the ball kicked away, and the throw to third got airmailed. The Rays looked out of rhythm and failed to execute on routine plays. For a team trying to survive in the postseason, this kind of defense won’t get it done.