Gerrit Cole likely had the same reaction to all of Kevin Cash's pitching changes as the 43,418 fans inside Minute Maid Park during the Astros 6-1 game five win.
"Kevin Cash probably got like 15 miles in walking back and forth to the mound this series."
Cash and the Rays used nine pitchers to record 24 outs Thursday night. Only three recorded more than three outs, while three retired one batter or fewer.
"It's not about the number of pitchers," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "It's about the quality of their pitchers and how they match them up and how Kevin never concedes an at-bat. It's hard to get through that many quality pitchers. It's not about the number. Anybody can throw 13 pitchers at you or ten pitchers at you, whatever they want, but they're bringing real stuff on to the field."
After losing two close-out games at Tropicana Field Monday and Tuesday, the Astros finished off the upstart Rays in their building Thursday, and they had to work hard for everything they got.
"What a classy series, man," Cole said. "They grinded so hard. They gave us such a good fight. We got hit in the face twice and we needed the second one to respond the way we wanted to respond, and even then they still were trading blows with us tonight."
Cole held the Rays to one run over eight innings in game five, after his 15 strikeout outing in game two, and as he and his teammate celebrated in their clubhouse, he couldn't help but to think about what the feeling was like on the other side.
"When you advance you're elated, you have a champagne shower, and you think about all the hard work you've put in. But at the same time your opponent has done the same thing. Those guys were grinding in the offseason, they were grinding all year through a bunch of injuries, coming back and getting guys healthy, taking a lot of time off of the DL, that's tough. A lot of credit to them for really just such a good brand of baseball. It was a pleasure to fight with them for five games."
