Overhauled Rays staff missing October magic in ALDS

By KYLE HIGHTOWER
AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) — Creative as they come at deploying their arms, the Tampa Bay Rays overhauled the pitching staff that bolstered an AL pennant winner in 2020 with their signature out-of-the-box approach. Constructed with similar boldness and imagination to last year’s shut-down crew, this staff hasn’t created quite the same October magic. Manager Kevin Cash’s fearlessness in deploying a dizzying array of relivers has let them down in Games 2 and 3 of their AL Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. Tasked with covering 11 innings Sunday, eight relievers bent repeatedly before finally breaking in the 13th, when Luis Patiño allowed Christian Vazquez’s walk-off two-run homer.