Rays vs. A's takeaways Yandy Diaz brings the power, Oakland squanders its chances and more

The Rays topped the A's in the AL Wild Card game on Wednesday night

The Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night prevailed over the  Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card Game at [checks notes] RingCentral Coliseum (TB 5, OAK 1). So the Rays are advancing, and the A's have seen their season draw to a close. Now let's look at some eight takeaways from the first AL postseason game of 2019.

1. The A's made history before the game even began
Baseball enthusiasm in Oakland wasn't hard to find. Indeed, A's rooters set a wild-card record well before first pitch:

More than seven hours before first pitch and we're on pace to break the Wild Card attendance record. 52,634+ will be bashin' at today's game. Let's make it a complete sellout. #BASHletics https://t.co/SEANRfAstM pic.twitter.com/aRC6ee0sAb

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) October 2, 2019

And then later:

The Town is PACKED.
Tonight's game is officially sold out.#BASHletics pic.twitter.com/06BGYiwRoG

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) October 2, 2019

The A's topped 50,000 in home attendance only once during the regular season, and that was on Aug. 24. That contest, however, was on a Saturday against the cross-Bay Giants, so it presumably was not all A's fans in the stands. Rays fans barely show up for home games, so they surely didn't travel well for this one.

2. The Rays brought the power
Tampa Bay took this one thanks in large measure to their power. The Rays ranked just 11th in the AL in home runs during the regular season, but they powered up for four homers in this one. Just seven times during the regular season did the Rays hit at least four home runs in a game, and just six times did the A's allow four or more homers. Along the way, the Rays became just the third team ever to homer four times in a playoff elimination game. The other two were the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS and the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series.

Of particular note was Yandy Diaz, who went yard twice in the early innings:

Yandy Diaz found his spot at the Oakland Coliseum. pic.twitter.com/JTlcYKQ2Y6

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) October 3, 2019

As that graphic suggests, if you saw one Yandy Diaz homer from the Wild Card Game, then you pretty much saw them both. So here's his second one:

We swear this is not a replay of Yandy Díaz. pic.twitter.com/bfKszn8m20

— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2019

So a few things about Diaz's night:

• He's just the 10th player ever to have a multi-homer game in a postseason elimination game. 
• He's the first Ray to do it. 
• He's the first player in the last decade to hit multiple opposite-field home runs in a postseason game.
• He's first leadoff hitter ever to homer in his first two at-bats of a single postseason. 
• He's the fifth player ever at any spot in the lineup to homer twice in his first two at-bats of a postseason.

All this from a guy who coming into Wednesday night had played exactly one game since July 22.


3. Manaea had one of his worst outings
Oakland's Wild Card Game starter Sean Manaea returned from shoulder surgery in time to make just five starts down the stretch. He was completely dominant across those starts, as he pitched to a 1.21 ERA with 30 strikeouts against seven walks. Against the Rays on Wednesday, though, he struggled:


In terms of Game Score, a quick-and-dirty Bill James metric that measures a pitcher's dominance or lack thereof in a given start (50 is average and anything 90 or higher is an absolute gem), Manaea's Wednesday night figure of 19 is his lowest such mark since Sept. 12, 2017. Obviously, those three dingers did the big damage, and on that point:

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