CLEVELAND — This sure wasn’t a Russell Martin playoff dream game for ex-Yankee Nick Swisher.
You can’t win them all, bro.
Swisher had another October nightmare performance Wednesday night as his Indians were beaten 4-0 by the pitching-rich Rays in the AL wild-card game at Progressive Field before a crowd of 43,579 fans.
The Traveling Rays head to Boston for the ALDS, yet another AL East affair.
Swisher, who won a World Series in his four years with the Yankees, came to Cleveland as a free agent and helped lead the Indians back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007, but Swisher and the Indians’ hitters could not get to Alex Cobb and the Rays’ bullpen.
Swisher came into the game with a lifetime .169 postseason average over 46 games and his struggles continued Wednesday. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and left four men on base. His last strikeout came in the seventh with two on as reliever Joel Peralta blew a fastball by him.
After his frustrating night was complete, Swisher poured out his heart.
“It feels like we let the city down a little bit,’’ said Swisher, who is adored here. “At this point it was nice to get a little taste, but man, this hurts. We just couldn’t come up with that clutch hit. It sucks right now to be in this spot, but it was such a great year for us. The sting is super bad right now, but either way, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys, we fought our tails off.
“Just to get to this spot, no one expected us to be here,’’ Swisher said of the Indians, who won 92 games this season with key free agent signings after winning only 68 in 2012. “We tried to make this place cool again.
“We ran into a buzz-saw. Cobb’s placement of his pitches and his change up were amazing.’’
In Cobb, 25, a fourth-round pick in the 2006 draft, the Rays have another pitching jewel. Cobb changes speeds as well as any pitcher in baseball and was impressive in his 6 ²/₃ innings.
The right-hander was the bat-boy during spring training for the Dodgers in Vero Beach for three years during his high school days. One of his best memories is getting a pair of batting gloves from a visiting player, Boston’s David Ortiz.
Cobb allowed eight hits, but escaped numerous jams without any damage. The Indians’ No. 8 and 9 hitters, Yan Gomes and Lonnie Chisenhall, combined to go 5-for-8, but the top of the order couldn’t come up with a big hit as their 1-3 hitters — Michael Bourn, Swisher and Jason Kipnis — went 0-for-12.
When it comes to Swisher in the postseason, it almost looks like he is trying too hard. The pain of losing is the same in New York and Cleveland.
“If you lose, you lose,’’ Swisher said.
This was a much different night than ex-Yankee Martin experienced Tuesday in Pittsburgh, hitting two home runs to lift the Pirates to a 6-2 win over the Reds in the NL wild-card game.
The postseason comes down to playing a complete game, especially when you are on the road. The plucky $62 million Rays did just that.
This was the Rays third straight game in three different cities and two countries, having won Sunday in Toronto and Monday in Texas against the Rangers in the tie-breaker game No. 163. They poured champagne after each of their last two games.
Life is about the journey.
This Indians’ loss means there will be no Terry Francona homecoming in Boston.
As for the Rays, they think outside the diamond. In Joe Maddon they have a manager who is a philosopher king.
“If you can train your guys to breathe and keep it simple in the moment and they’re really good, they have the best chance of performing well,’’ Maddon said. “I’m so proud of our guys.’’
The Rays keep it simple. Their pitchers throw more change-ups than anyone around, they play good defense, especially in the infield, and they get just enough big hits.
Scrap-heap designated hitter Delmon Young blasted a solo home run to lead off the third against hard-throwiing Danny Salazar to take the pressure off a bit. That was Young’s ninth postseason home run over the past three Octobers, no one has hit more.
Like Maddon said, the Rays breathe, and that makes all the difference.