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Cease cut through this Rays lineup like a hot knife through butter over the first five innings. His slider was lethal and he struck out his 201st batter of the season, drawing him even with Tarik Skubal for the league lead. Yet, that sixth inning got hairy quickly as he walked the first two batters on eight pitches before Brandon Lowe smacked a single to load the bases. Mike Shildt then went to Jason Adam who hit a batter, got a double play, and then threw a wild pitch to let all three inherited runners come around to score. All in all, this was a bittersweet start for Cease who’s scheduled to face the Giants at home next time out.

In spite of its seeming vulnerability, Tropicana Field was set up as a staging area for recovery efforts from Milton, with beds meant for responders lining the entire outfield area. Fortunately, though, no one was on the premises for the event, which pretty much shredded the entire roof of the domed stadium. Whether a fix is possible prior to the 2025 season is hard to say at the moment. The Rays might find themselves playing in an open-air stadium next year.

Ohtani roped a grounder into right to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the second inning. He also drew two more walks. In his first ever postseason series, Ohtani has driven in four runs with a slash of .250/.333/.438. He’ll have a chance to add to that total in Game 5 when the two teams meet Friday.

Lux punctuated the blowout with a two-run shot in the seventh inning. He also singled and came around to score a second run. That was his first homer off a left-handed pitcher since he took Hoby Milner deep on Aug. 15, 2022. Lux has done a solid job over the first four games with a .357 average and .571 slugging mark with three RBI.

Smith went hitless in the first three games of the series — although he did draw four walks — but saw that streak end with a two-run shot in the third off Bryan Hoeing. That roundtripper was scorched; estimated at 432 feet with 108.7 MPH exit velocity. It’s nice to see some success from Smith considering his struggles in the second half.

And we’re tied. Betts homered for the second straight game — again in the first inning — and he’s Jurickson Profar away from making it three consecutive contests. The outfielder also drove in a run an inning later with a single. Betts has performed well in this series with a slash of .269/.387/.667 with the pair of homers and three RBI. Game 5 will take place on Friday in Los Angeles.

Cease was working on three days’ rest, and it didn’t work out very well. He allowed four hits — including a homer to Mookie Betts — and a walk with just one strikeout. It’s hard to imagine Cease would go again in this series considering how much he’s struggled, so he’s likely the Game 1 starter if the Padres are able to win Game 5.

Stanton even stole a base in his first attempt at one since 2020. He wasn’t being held on in the sixth, and he made it easily with John Schreiber paying no attention to him. Stanton’s homer came off Kris Bubic, breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth. The win means the Yankees can take the series when Gerrit Cole and Michael Wacha face off in Thursday’s Game 4. If they don’t do it then, they’ll have another chance Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

The runs came in the fifth after Schmidt retired the first two batters of the inning. What followed was a soft infield single, a double the batter thought would go foul and then a triple past a diving Juan Soto. Clay Holmes took over at that point and prevented the go-ahead run from scoring. It was the first career postseason start for Schmidt. He pitched in relief three times between the ALDS and ALCS in 2022, giving up three runs in 2 1/3 innings and taking two losses.

Weaver took over with the bases empty in the eighth and gave up a couple of hits before escaping the inning. The ninth, in comparison, was very easy, as he retired all three batters he faced on a total of seven pitches. He’s pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings to date in his first ever postseason series.

Lugo issued four walks for just the second time in 35 starts this year and three of those contributed to the two runs scoring. Still, it was a solid enough outing, and though he left down 2-0, the Royals let him off the hook with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.