Cleveland leads the American League Championship Series 2-1 and has run out of rested starters. So manager Stephen Vogt is handing Game 4 to a 36-year-old reliever who has not started a game all season.
Shawn Armstrong will take the ball Friday night at Progressive Field in what the Guardians have openly called a bullpen game. Tampa Bay counters with Nick Martinez. First pitch was pushed back two hours to 8 p.m. ET because of rain, and a postponement to Saturday is still possible.
Why Armstrong, and why now
The math is simple. Foster Griffin went in Game 1, Parker Messick in Game 2, Gavin Williams in Game 3. Nobody in Cleveland’s rotation is on normal rest, and Vogt decided he would rather script the first few innings than stretch someone out on short rest.
Armstrong has been excellent in October. He has thrown 5 1/3 scoreless innings across four appearances this postseason, allowing one hit and striking out five. In the regular season he made 41 appearances with a 4.58 ERA and came off the injured list on Sept. 23. He is pitching on a one-year, $5.5 million deal signed last December.
The specific logic is matchup-based. Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero are a combined 0-for-8 in their careers against him. Cleveland wants Armstrong to get through the top of Tampa Bay’s order once and then hand the game to someone else.
Joey Cantillo, Tanner Bibee and Slade Cecconi are the candidates for bulk innings. If the game slides to Saturday, Griffin could start on normal rest instead.
The workload problem is real
Cleveland has used six pitchers in Game 1, four in Game 2 and five in Game 3. Closer Cade Smith has appeared in seven of the team’s eight playoff games and recorded a four-out save on Thursday.
That is a lot of arms for a staff that may still have four games left. Vogt’s answer when asked about it was short: his guys stay ready. There is not much else a manager can say in the middle of a series.
Tampa Bay’s problem is bigger
The Rays have not scored more than three runs in any game of this series. Their three best regular-season hitters, Caminero, Diaz and Aranda, are a combined 5-for-34 with one home run in the ALCS. Aranda is 0-for-10.
Martinez gives them a real chance to change that. The 36-year-old right-hander was a 2026 All-Star, went 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA across a career-high 31 starts, and finished sixth in the American League in ERA. He threw two scoreless starts against Cleveland in the regular season. In ALDS Game 3 against the Yankees he gave up two runs on five hits over 3 2/3 innings. Drew Rasmussen could start instead if the game moves to Saturday.
Kevin Cash said he had been told Friday would be a rain-filled day with the evening forecast improving. Martinez’s take on the uncertainty was that the team would take it as it came.
Both teams are off Sunday, which gives MLB flexibility to play Games 4 and 5 on consecutive days in Cleveland. No ALCS game has been postponed since 2019. The winner of this series opens the World Series in Milwaukee on Oct. 23.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.