drew rasmussen

CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen allowed one run over seven innings for his second postseason win, Tampa Bay’s offense kept on constant pressure and the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.

The Rays will try to capture their third AL pennant and first since 2020 on Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Since the ALCS expanded to seven games in 1985, road teams winning Game 5 for a 3-2 lead have won the series four of five times.

Game 7 if needed would be Tuesday, and the World Series starts Friday at NL champion Milwaukee.

Cleveland has not won an ALCS when trailing 3-2.

Tampa Bay scored single runs in each of the first three innings, the first two off Parker Messick and the third against Tim Herrin.

Rasmussen shut down the Guardians’ offense after allowing two runs over six innings in the opener. After Chase DeLauter’s two-out single in the first, the 31-year-old right-hander retired nine straight batters and allowed only one other baserunner through the sixth.

Rasmussen gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three postseason starts, striking out 23 and walking three.

Cam Booser and Tyler Wells worked the eighth, with Wells striking out José Ramírez to strand a runner.

Bryan Baker came in for the ninth and converted his 35th straight save chance, his fifth of this postseason. Jo Adell was on second base when Travis Bazzana hit a game-ending groundout.

Steven Kwan had two of Cleveland’s five hits and made two fine defensive plays: He threw out Taylor Walls trying to score from second base on Jonathan Aranda’s fourth-inning single to left and made a leaping catch at the center-field wall on Victor Mesa Jr.’s eighth-inning drive, saving a run.

Tampa Bay’s leadoff hitter reached base in the first four innings — scoring in the first three frames — and six times overall. Rays’ leadoff batters have reached in 10 of 14 innings dating to Saturday.

Yandy Díaz had three hits while Aranda and Liam Hicks both had two hits and drove in a run.

Díaz scored on a bases-loaded walk by Messick to Jonny DeLuca in the first inning. Díaz led off with a line-drive double over center fielder Petey Halpin that rolled to the wall.

Aranda’s single drove in Ben Williamson for a 2-0 lead in the second, and Hicks looped a curveball from Herrin to center to score Chandler Simpson in the third.

Cleveland finally threatened in the seventh when Kwan and Ramírez singled to put runners at the corners and DeLauter grounded an RBI single between first and second.

Messick had the shortest outing of his big league career and didn’t make it past the third inning for the second time in four postseason starts. The 25-year-old left-hander went two innings and allowed two runs, five hits and three walks over two innings, throwing just 34 of 57 pitches for strikes.

Reedy writes for the Associated Press.

Nathaniel Lowe ended an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Cleveland Guardians rallied past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.

Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees in their AL Division Series.

“It’s been a while since we lost, so I think that’s a good thing, and I know the guys will come back and respond tomorrow,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for Cleveland, and right-hander Freddy Peralta takes the mound for the Rays.

Five relievers combined for five innings of one-run, two-hit ball for the Guardians, who became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series with a victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.

Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games against Chicago, tossed a perfect ninth.

“Obviously we came off an emotional series, had a quick turnaround. But these guys come ready to play every day. Couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got punched early. And our pitching staff, credit to them, for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. And the offense came alive.”

Rasmussen took a 2-0 lead into the sixth before DeLauter led off with an opposite-field homer to left-center. Bailey started the seventh with a towering shot to center that went a projected 436 feet, ending Rasmussen’s night.

Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees.

José Ramírez opened the eighth with an infield single off Tyler Wells, and DeLauter ripped a double to right. After Wells retired Jo Adell on a grounder to second, Ian Seymour entered. Lowe lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to drive in two, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead.

Mullins connected off Erik Sabrowski for a solo shot in the bottom half.

Ramírez, whose two-run homer lifted Cleveland to a 2-0 win in Game 5 vs. Chicago, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Cole Sulser. Ramírez helped the Guardians get two more by breaking for third with two outs and two strikes on Adell. Caminero ran to cover the bag and was out of position when Adell hit a sharp grounder toward third. The ball rolled into left field for a two-run double.

A crowd of 35,361 fans waved yellow rally towels and rang cowbells at Tropicana Field in the Rays’ third appearance in the ALCS in the franchise’s 29 season-history.

They were fired up when the 98-win Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the first and Rasmussen battled to keep it there until the sixth.

Coming off that dominant performance against the Yankees, Rasmussen went six-plus tough innings. The two-time All-Star right-hander, who was four outs from a no-hitter in a 1-0 victory against New York, allowed a hit to the second batter he faced and eight total, striking out seven.

Guardians starter Foster Griffin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings.

The Rays allowed just 12 hits in three games against the Yankees but the Guardians got 14 in the series opener, including three apiece from Ramírez and DeLauter.

Glove work

The Rays helped Rasmussen with outstanding defense.

Nick Fortes threw out Ramirez trying to steal second in the first. Caminero made an excellent play to retire Adell on a hard bouncer to third. Caminero short-hopped the ball with his backhand and fired a strong throw to first.

The Guardians had a runner on first with one out in the third when second baseman Ben Williamson robbed DeLauter of a hit that prevented a first-and-third jam. Williamson, who wasn’t on the ALDS roster, made a diving grab on DeLauter’s sharp grounder, got up and threw him out.

Stranded runners

Rays slick-fielding shortstop Taylor Walls was 0 for 3 and left six runners on base. He struck out with the bases loaded to end the first, lined out with a runner on in the fourth and grounded out with runners on first and second to end the sixth.

Up next

Messick took the loss in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, giving up two runs in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 2 1/3 innings in relief in a Game 4 victory, giving up two runs. Messick had 11 strikeouts in the two appearances. He was 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA in the regular season.

Peralta gave up one run and three hits over 4 2/3 innings in Game 2 of the AL Division Series vs. the Yankees. He was 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts after joining Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. Peralta was 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA for the Mets this season.