AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS RAYS

October 15, 2026

Kevin Cash

Progessive Field

Tampa Bay Rays

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Guardians - 3, Rays - 2

Q. What did you see from Jax in the fifth, the high chopper he tried to get and the pitch to Halpin?

KEVIN CASH: I thought Jax threw the ball incredibly well. He settled in after the first inning, second inning, he was kind of 50/50 strike throwing. Then he got into a good rhythm.

I don't think if he catches that ball clean he's got a play -- was it Bailey that hit it, getting out of the box the way he did.

And the pitch to Halpin, he's trying to throw that front-door sinker, maybe to get him tied up or get him frozen. He just leaked it a little bit too far over the plate, came back middle away. And I think Halpin put a good swing on it.

Q. You talked before the game about them pitching everybody tough, especially your big guys -- Junior, four strikeouts; Yandy obviously had a big situation there. Is that just an example of that playoff-level pitching, or what are you seeing there?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, I think it's that. For sure. I mean, everybody that they're starting or relieving is pretty elite. They've got options to get you to swing and miss for sure.

Yandy put together a heck of an at-bat there right at the end with Cade Smith, and you're dealing with the shadows and everything, and then the broken bat. And that's a lot. But impressed the way he was able to hang in there. And Smith ultimately got him on a fastball.

Cami will bounce right back tomorrow. I know he's going to be motivated to get back in the box and pick us up in a big way, and confident he will.

Q. Obviously understanding the moment and how much pitching has gone a long way in this series, what did you make of the performance of Gavin Williams and Cade Smith in those scenarios?

KEVIN CASH: They were excellent. I mean, from what I've seen and watched on TV coming into our series, they've been pretty electric, both of them.

A lot of power from Gavin Williams, and sets a tone with a fastball and then he goes heavy off-speed. He can go either way.

With Cade Smith, he's really tough to square up. He's been like that since he's kind of evolved in this dominant and closer role, and he's doing it now in the postseason again.

Q. What did you think about the at-bat Chandler put together as well. He gets beat on the sweeper inside and comes back around?

KEVIN CASH: Big at-bat by Chandler in the moment. Goes down 0-2. And you know that's the thing with Chandler, when he gets behind the count, I think he's such a complete hitter. 2-0 or 0-2 for him doesn't matter.

You can't say that about a lot of hitters, but he hangs in there, and I think it's probably one of the hardest balls he's hit all season long, driving it down the right-field line to pick up those two runs.

Q. That was just along that same lines of that rally, you obviously got him to third there and just couldn't get --

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, we all -- look, we got a hit. We went into the game, we knew we had our challenges. But look up, two runs on two hits. You gotta be perfect to win games like that.

I'm not saying you can't, but ideally, we start getting some bigger at-bats going and piecing together a really talented offensive club all season long. And very confident that they'll bounce right back and be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. What did you make of how your team responded after the Halpin home run and obviously the crowd kind of getting electric there? Just seeing the response from your group and fighting back the way that you guys did?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, look, figured and assumed that's what we're going to do. We've done that all season long. The guys are super excited to be playing in these games. And a one-run swing is not going to demoralize the character or the mindset of the group. They're going to stay at it and had all the confidence in the world that we were going to get that run, or multiple runs across. We just didn't.

Q. Having a catcher behind the plate that's able to cut down runs or runners that are trying to advance the way that José Ramírez was, how does it feel to have Liam Hicks back there and the confidence you've had in him?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, Liam has picked us up in some big ways. We knew coming in that they're a very aggressive running team. They like to go. They've got three or four guys that get on base and they're looking early to run. I think Liam has done a heck of a job getting rid of the ball really, really quick. And Wallsy has done a heck of a job of kind of coming up the line and tagging them on the backside, helped us prevent some big runs or big innings and kept them out of scoring position.