Rasmussen Deals, Rays Beat Guardians for 3-2 ALCS Lead

Drew Rasmussen got Patrick Bailey to bounce into an inning-ending double play in the seventh, stepped off the mound and shouted toward the Tampa Bay dugout. That was the exclamation point on a gem. Rasmussen held the Cleveland Guardians to one run on four hits over seven innings, and the Rays won Game 5 of the ALCS 3-1 at Progressive Field on Sunday to take a 3-2 series lead.

Now the Rays go home to Tropicana Field one win away from the third World Series trip in franchise history. Game 6 is Monday at 8 p.m. ET in St. Petersburg, and a Game 7, if needed, would be Tuesday.

Rasmussen Gets His Seventh Inning Back

That seventh inning was personal. In Game 1, Rasmussen came back out for the seventh, gave up a game-tying homer to Bailey and walked off without recording an out. This time Nathaniel Lowe led off with a single, Rasmussen retired Travis Bazzana, and Bailey hit into the double play to end it.

He was in control from the start. After a two-out single by Chase DeLauter in the first, Rasmussen retired nine straight and 14 of the next 15. Cleveland hit only six balls out of the infield against him, and Statcast tracked just three hard-hit balls, two of them outs. He struck out six, walked one and needed 95 pitches.

The bigger picture is ridiculous. Since the All-Star break Rasmussen is 11-0 with a 1.73 ERA, and the Rays have won 14 of his 15 starts in that stretch. Per MLB.com, he is the first pitcher in Rays history with multiple postseason starts of at least seven innings and one or zero runs allowed, and the last pitcher to do it twice before the World Series in a single postseason was Logan Webb in 2021.

A Run an Inning, Then Lock It Down

Tampa Bay scored once in each of the first three innings. Yandy Díaz led off the game with a double and scored when Jonny DeLuca drew a bases-loaded walk, a call that stood after Bailey challenged the pitch. Jonathan Aranda singled home Ben Williamson in the second, and Liam Hicks singled to center to score Chandler Simpson in the third.

Díaz finished 3 for 5, the Rays banged out 12 hits, and Cleveland starter Parker Messick lasted two innings and took the loss. Taylor Walls and Williamson were sharp up the middle all night.

The Guardians' only run came in the sixth, when Steven Kwan scored on a DeLauter groundout. After Rasmussen, Cam Booser and Tyler Wells handled the eighth, and Bryan Baker worked a scoreless ninth for the save.

One Win From the World Series

History likes Tampa Bay here. Since the ALCS went to seven games in 1985, road teams that won Game 5 for a 3-2 lead have won the series four of five times, per AP. The Rays are chasing their third AL pennant and first since 2020, and if they advance, the World Series against the Brewers guarantees a first-time champion.

Cleveland has been in this spot before this October. The Guardians trailed the White Sox 0-2 in the ALDS and won three straight. Now they need two road wins at the Trop to keep alive their shot at ending the longest title drought in baseball, which dates to 1948.

Monday night, the Rays get their first swing at a pennant in front of their own crowd.