Rays let early lead get away, lose ALCS opener to gritty Guardians

Sports admin October 13, 2026 0 Comments

Rays let early lead get away, lose ALCS opener to gritty Guardians

These ain’t the Yankees.

The Rays pretty much had their way with the star-studded New Yorkers in sweeping them out of the American League Division Series by beating them in every facet of the game.

If Monday’s 7-3 loss in the opener of the best-of-seven AL Championship Series was a representative indication, they are going to have a much tougher time with the gritty Guardians.

Game 2 is Tuesday night, with the Rays’ Freddy Peralta facing Cleveland’s Parker Messick, the Plant City native and FSU product.

An announced crowd of 35,361 attended the first ALCS game at Tropicana Field since Oct. 19, 2008, when the Rays pulled out a tense and dramatic Game 7 win over the Red Sox to advance to their first World Series. (The 2020 ALCS against Houston was played at a neutral site, in San Diego, due to pandemic restrictions.)

The Rays grabbed a 2-0 first-inning lead but left the bases loaded. It came back to haunt them, as they did little else offensively for much of the night, including a stretch where 13 of 14 hitters went down.

The Guardians got even in somewhat unlikely fashion, rapping a pair of solo homers off Rays ace Drew Rasmussen. Rookie Chase DeLauter took him deep to open the sixth, and Patrick Bailey did the same on the first pitch of the seventh. It was only the third game all season Rasmussen gave up multiple homers.

The Guardians took the lead in the eighth off reliever Cam Booser. Jose Ramirez reached on a slow grounder to third that Junior Caminero couldn’t make a play on, and DeLauter followed with a double to right. With one out, ex-Ray Nate Lowe singled over the drawn-in infield to center for a 4-2 edge.

The Rays got within one in somewhat surprising fashion, a homer by Cedric Mullins, who has been relegated to bench duty so far in the postseason, off Cleveland lefty Erik Sabrowski.

The Guardians added three runs in the ninth to extend the lead to 7-3.

The Rays survived a scare in the top of the ninth when Caminero and Jonny DeLuca collided somewhat violently chasing a foul ball down the leftfield line. Caminero was down longer and looked to be in immense pain, but after a few moments he got to his feet and stayed in the game.

The Rays had a chance for more than the two runs in the first, but Taylor Walls struck out with the bases loaded to end their rally.

Yandy Diaz, who went 3-for-12 in the Division Series, led off with a double he laced to left-center at 114.6 mph, hit so hard it shot past leftfielder Steven Kwan.

Jonathan Aranda, a 22-home run hitter during the season, gave himself up with a bunt that moved Diaz to third, and Caminero singled him in.

With two outs, Victor Mesa Jr. and Jonny DeLuca rapped consecutive singles to extend the lead to 2-0. Ben Williamson was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Walls struck out.

The Guardians got one run back when DeLauter led off the sixth with a homer off Rasmussen.

And then they got even when Patrick Bailey hit Rasmussen’s first pitch of the seventh, and last of the night, for a 436-foot homer to center.

Rasmussen finished the sixth with 90 pitches and, by his high standards, a bit of a tough outing, having allowed seven hits. The Rays had lefty Cam Booser and righty Tyler Wells both warming, but Cash sent Rasmussen out to start the inning. Bailey’s homer left him with a season-high-matching eight hits for the night.

Rasmussen went into Monday’s game on a remarkable roll. The Rays had won each of his last 13 starts, going back to early July, and he had thrown dazzling back-to-back outings.

On Sept. 22 in the AL East clincher at Yankee Stadium, he no-hit the Yankees for six innings and allowed one hit over 6 ⅔. In the Oct. 3 ALDS opener against the Yankees, he carried a no-hitter for 7 ⅔ innings before allowing his only hit over an eight-inning command performance.

With the Guardians starting lefty Foster Griffin in Monday’s series opener, the Rays made several changes to their typical lineup, with a couple more than against Yankees lefty Max Fried in Game 3 of the ALDS last Wednesday.

The big move that night wasn’t as much in starting right-handed-hitting outfielder Ryan Vilade, who plays against most lefties, but in sitting down Chandler Simpson, the speedy offensive catalyst. Cash opted to play the lefty-hitting outfielder with better numbers, Victor Mesa Jr. Cash also stuck that night with lefty-hitting second baseman Richie Palacios and catcher Liam Hicks, with the thought they might be able to take advantage of the short rightfield porch at Yankee Stadium.

Monday, Cash went pretty much full platoon, with Ben Williamson at second, Nick Fortes behind the plate and Vilade in left (Simpson again was on the bench, with Mesa in rightfield).

Cash will have interesting decisions to make going forward, with the potential that Cleveland starts lefties in five of the seven games.

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This story was originally published October 12, 2026 at 11:34 PM.