As the Tampa Bay Rays completed their walk-off win about three hours before the first pitch between the Orioles and Guardians I felt good about the chances of the magic number to decrease anyway. The Guardians are not a great team and Grayson Rodriguez was on the mound for the Orioles.
Things don’t always go as planned. Rodriguez struggled and exited the game after just five innings, having allowed two runs. It was another short inning by a starting pitcher, which has started to become a trend. In the last turn through the rotation, only Kyle Bradish has gone more than five innings.