SAN DIEGO _ The Rays wanted to make Sunday an off-day for Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks and Diego Castillo, the three relievers who did double duty in Friday's American League Division Series clincher over the Yankees.
But with a one-run lead in Sunday's Championship Series opener against the Astros in serious jeopardy _ with the bases loaded in the eighth inning _ manager Kevin Cash summoned Castillo from the bullpen.
One pitch got the needed two outs to get them through the inning, and when he came back to work the ninth, it became a Sunday fun day for the Rays with a 2-1 win.
After getting only five innings from starter Blake Snell (who needed 105 pitches to get there), Cash had to get 12 outs from the bullpen. Rookies John Curtiss and Ryan Thompson, the former Astros minor-leaguer, got three each.
For the eighth, Cash went to veteran lefty Aaron Loup, but that didn't work. He hit Michael Brantley, one of the two Houston lefties. After striking out Alex Bregman, he threw a wild pitch. He walked right-hander Carlos Correa. And he gave up a soft single to lefty Kyle Tucker, loading the bases.
After eliminating the New York Yankees the Tampa Bay Rays face another nemesis, the Houston Astros to start the American League Championship Series.
That was enough, and Cash called for Castillo, who threw 29 pitches over the final two innings Friday. He needed only one to get Yuli Gurriel to ground into a double play.
The Astros took a 1-0 lead in the first when No. 2 hitter Jose Altuve homered off Snell, and it looked like they would get more based on the quality of swings they were getting and the number of balls they were hitting hard, both foul and fair.
But as Snell muddled through his somewhat unimpressive innings, allowing six hits and a walk and striking out only two, he held the Astros to just the one run.
The Rays were stifled early by Astros lefty Framber Valdez, who they were seeing for the first time. Their only hit through the first three innings was a one-out double in the third by Kevin Kiermaier, who was then caught stealing.
But red-hot rookie Randy Arozarena, who Cash said doesn't know most of the pitchers anyway, got them even with one swing, delivering his fourth home in his last six postseason games. Overall, it was his 11th homer in his last 27 games, having been called up Aug. 30.
There was a little more involved in the Rays getting the go-ahead run in the fifth.
Willy Adames drew a five-pitch leadoff walk, then moved to second and third on a pair of ground balls that didn't get past Valdez. Catcher Mike Zunino came up with the "big" hit, a soft liner off the end of his bat that eluded shifted second baseman Jose Altuve and shortstop went between the Astros infielders.
