Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
The Cleveland Guardians won Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7 to 3 on Monday night.
The Rays led 2 to 0 at the start. Then the Guardians played better. They scored seven runs and the Rays scored only one in the last four innings.
Nathaniel Lowe hit a big single in the eighth inning. Jose Ramirez hit another one in the ninth. Game 2 is on Tuesday night.
- series
- a set of games between two teams
- inning
- one part of a baseball game
- run
- one point in baseball
- single
- a hit that gets the batter to first base
- lead
- to be ahead
- win
- to finish first
- night
- the dark part of the day
- team
- a group that plays together
Level 2 - Elementary
The Cleveland Guardians came from behind on Monday night to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7 to 3 at Tropicana Field and take a 1 to 0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
The Rays led 2 to 0 early, but the Guardians scored seven runs over the last four innings while Tampa Bay scored just one. Nathaniel Lowe's two run single in the eighth inning put Cleveland ahead for good.
Jose Ramirez added a single that drove in a run in the ninth. Outfielder Chase DeLauter was also named as a leader in the win. Game 2 is set for Tuesday night in the same ballpark.
- come from behind
- to win after losing at first
- ballpark
- a stadium where baseball is played
- championship
- a contest to decide the best team
- outfielder
- a baseball player who stands far from the batter
- drive in
- to help a teammate score
- ahead for good
- in front until the end
- early
- near the start
- series lead
- being ahead in a set of games
Level 3 - Intermediate
The Cleveland Guardians erased an early 2 to 0 deficit on Monday night, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 7 to 3 at Tropicana Field in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Cleveland outscored Tampa Bay 7 to 1 across the final four innings to claim a 1 to 0 series lead.
Nathaniel Lowe's two run single in the eighth inning gave the Guardians the lead they would not surrender, and Jose Ramirez tacked on an RBI single in the ninth. Chase DeLauter and Ramirez were singled out in game coverage as the drivers of the comeback.
The result gives the visitors the early initiative in a best of seven series and pressure on the Rays, who must now even things in Game 2 on Tuesday night at home. A road win in the opener is not decisive, but it is a useful head start.
- deficit
- the amount by which a team is behind
- surrender
- to give up
- tacked on
- added to something already there
- RBI
- a run batted in, a run scored because of a hit
- comeback
- a recovery from a losing position
- initiative
- the advantage of acting first
- best of seven
- a series won by the first team to win four games
- decisive
- settling a result completely
Level 4 - Advanced
Trailing 2 to 0 at Tropicana Field, the Cleveland Guardians produced the kind of late surge that October baseball prizes, outscoring the Tampa Bay Rays 7 to 1 over the final four innings to win Game 1 of the American League Championship Series 7 to 3 on Monday night.
The hinge was Nathaniel Lowe's two run single in the eighth, which converted a tight contest into a lead and exposed the Rays' bullpen. Jose Ramirez, the Guardians' long time centrepiece, supplied an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth, and game accounts credited both Ramirez and Chase DeLauter with driving the comeback.
In a best of seven format, a road victory in the opener confers modest but real advantages: it seizes home field leverage for at least a game and forces the Rays to chase the series. Tampa Bay now turns to Tuesday night's second game needing to stem the momentum before the series moves on.
- surge
- a sudden strong increase
- hinge
- the key point on which an outcome turns
- bullpen
- the group of relief pitchers
- centrepiece
- the most important part of a team
- insurance run
- an extra run that makes a lead safer
- confers
- gives or grants
- leverage
- power to influence a result
- stem
- to stop the flow of
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