2020 MLB Postseason: 5 key moments from Tuesday’s playoff action

The 2020 MLB postseason kicked off Tuesday. Here’s a look at five key moments and key decisions that determined these AL playoff matchups

The first day of the expanded 2020 MLB Postseason schedule contained several turning points and more than a few surprises.

Probably the biggest of those surprises was the failure of the much-touted Cole-Bieber pitching matchup to develop. In their four-vs-five seed playoff series, the visiting New York Yankees treated Bieber rudely from the outset – Aaron Judge’s two-run first-inning home run – and won 12-3.

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Bieber failed to last five innings, allowing nine hits and seven runs, all of them earned. That was as many earned runs as Bieber had allowed the entire month of September.

Elsewhere, the playoff turning points were more numerous and more decisive. Including the Yankees, three of the four visiting teams won. The Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros both took 4-1 decisions, from the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins respectively.

Only the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays were able to subdue their lower-seeded playoff opponent. The Rays beat Toronto 3-1.

Some, but hardly all, of the key moments during Tuesday’s playoff action represented brilliance. Several of the key figures emerged from relative obscurity. Did you know Matt Shoemaker was still in the major leagues?

Several also hinged on managerial judgments. If nothing else, Tuesday’s Jays-Rays and Twins-Astros playoff outcomes were both second-guessers delights. In that respect, wily Astros manager Dusty Baker had the last laugh on those who wondered what he was up to pulling Zack Greinke.

As for Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and Jays skipper Charlie Montoyo, they had more to sleep on.

Here’s a synopsis of the five key moments from Tuesday’s opening 2020 MLB Postseason games.

2020 MLB Postseason: At number 5, Robbie Ray for Matt Shoemaker.

Under normal circumstances, removing Matt Shoemaker from a game is the kind of thing you do reflexively.

After all, Shoemaker made only six appearances for the Toronto Blue Jays during the regular season, and never pitched past the sixth inning.

Still, there must have been at least a bit of uncertainty when Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Shoemaker to take the rest of the night off after just three innings. He had thrown just 33 pitches, by far his lightest workload of the season, and allowed only two singles.

There can be strategic reasons for yanking a smooth-running starter early in a game, but there is also significant risk. Notably, you are committed to a strategy that amounts to bullpen roulette, relying on a succession of relievers over an extended period in the hope that all of them will perform as your pre-game planning meeting envisioned.

If one of them is off form that night, your plan can collapse.

That’s what happened to Montoyo and his Jays. He used four relievers, one of whom was utterly ineffective and another of whom was just wild enough at the wrong moments. More on that momentarily.

The result: A 0-0 tie becomes a 4-1 Toronto defeat inflicted at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays.

2020 MLB Postseason: At number four, Robbie Ray’s moment of wildness.

Shoemaker’s replacement was Robbie Ray, a left-hander the Jays had obtained from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the end of August.

One of a lengthy list of disappointments during his month in the desert, Ray improved with the change of scenery. His five appearances included four starts, and although Ray never went more than five innings for the Jays he wouldn’t be expected to give more than a couple in his relief role.

In the cool aftermath of the evening, Ray’s line looks pretty good. He produced three innings, allowing just one hit, and striking out five.

But Ray, a career starter, may have had moments of adjustment to the demands of relieving. The first batter he faced, Randy Arozarena, shot a 2-1 four-seamer into the gap in right-center and legged it around for a three-base hit.

Ray struck out Nate Lowe but buried a 3-2 slider to Willy Adames that eluded catcher Danny Jansen and skidded to the backstop, allowing Arozarena to score. Ray then fanned Joey Wendle and got Manuel Margot to pop out, fueling the notion that absent the wild pitch the Rays would not have gotten that run.

The Rays, who won 3-1, probably would have gotten the win even if Ray had thrown a catchable pitch in that situation. But that’s speculation. This isn’t: From that moment on, the Rays never trailed.

2020 MLB postseason: At number 2, Framber Valdez for Zack Greinke.

Astros manager Dusty Baker set himself up for second-guessing four innings into Tuesday’s game between Houston and the Twins in Minnesota.

The Twins led Greinke’s Astros 1-0 at that point thanks to Nelson Cruz’s third-inning run-producing double. Coming off a 3-3 season in a dozen regular-season starts, Greinke had allowed just one other hit. But he had also walked three, and Baker said later he didn’t like the way Greinke was working.

So he yanked his only healthy veteran starter and turned instead to Framber Valdez, probably the Astros’ best pitcher during the regular season.

The early returns were questionable. Valdez walked the first two batters he faced, got Byron Buxton to fish at a pitch in the dirt then threw another one there that Buxton laid off of.

Then Valdez found his bearings. He fanned Buxton, retired the next two hitters and stranded those potential Twins insurance runs.

From that point on, Valdez was brilliant. He allowed just two hits, recorded four more strikeouts, and when the Astros got a major gift – more on that presently – finished off the final innings of what turned in to a 4-1 Houston victory.

The performances leaves Astros fans guessing who Baker might nominate to start Game 2 – Valdez had been the majority choice – and may have rendered him unavailable for the rest of the series. But Houston got the victory, and Valdez was the major reason.

2020 MLB Postseason: At number 1, Jorge Polanco’s gift that kept on giving.

What Valdez didn’t contribute to Houston’s win, Jorge Polanco did. The Twins shortstop clutched up at a key moment of Tuesday’s game, setting the stage for the three-run ninth inning that killed the AL’s third seed.

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The game was tied 1-1 entering the ninth when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli signaled to the bullpen for veteran Sergio Romo. A veteran of 29 post-season appearances, six of them in the World Series, Romo allowed quick singles to Yuli Gurriel and Carlos Correa but recovered to retire Josh Reddick and Martin Maldonado.

One out away from sending the Twins to no-lose bottom of the ninth tie, Romo worked a 1-2 count on George Springer then coaxed a hard ground ball to Polanco at deep short. He had plenty of time to force Correa at second for the third out. But Polanco hurried his throw, pulling Luis Arraez off the base and loading the bases for Jose Altuve.

Altuve walked, forcing Gurriel across with the go-ahead run. Alex Bregman’s base hit scored both Correa and Springer, and the three-run unearned deficit was simply too much for the Twins to overcome in the bottom of the ninth.