Rays beat Guardians 3-1 in Game 5, move one win from the pennant

CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen retired nine batters in a row after a leadoff single in the first inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday at Progressive Field, pushing Tampa Bay to within one victory of its first pennant since 2020.

The right-hander allowed one run on four hits over seven innings, walked one and struck out six, and the Rays' bullpen closed it out to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 series lead. The Rays have now won two straight games in the best-of-seven series and can clinch the pennant on Monday night at home.

The numbers

Tampa Bay scored in each of the first three innings, the first two off Cleveland starter Parker Messick and the third against reliever Tim Herrin. Messick lasted only two innings, the shortest start of his big-league career and the second time in four postseason outings he failed to reach the third. Designated hitter Yandy Díaz drove in the Rays' first run on a bases-loaded walk and finished with three hits. Jonathan Aranda and Liam Hicks each added a run-scoring single, and the Rays did not need another run against a Cleveland bullpen that had otherwise kept the series close.

• Rasmussen: 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K — his second win of this postseason, to go with a 1.29 ERA across three October starts
• Yandy Díaz: 3-for-4 with the game's first run scored
• Bryan Baker: converted his fifth save of the postseason and his 35th consecutive save opportunity
• Steven Kwan: two of Cleveland's five hits, plus a fourth-inning throw that nailed a Rays runner at the plate and a leaping catch at the wall in the eighth

Cleveland's only run came in the seventh, when Kwan and José Ramírez singled before Chase DeLauter drove in a run with a groundout-turned-single between first and second. Cam Booser and Tyler Wells shut the door on that threat, and the Rays turned to Baker for a clean ninth, with Travis Bazzana grounding out to end it. The full line score is on ESPN's box score for the game, and a separate game recap from CBS Sports carried much the same account of the late innings.

How the series got here

Cleveland had taken the first and third games of the series, including a 3-2 win Thursday decided by Petey Halpin's two-run homer, to lead 2-1 heading into the weekend. Tampa Bay answered by winning Game 4 7-3 at Progressive Field — a contest pushed back a day by rain — before Sunday's win evened the stakes decisively in the Rays' favor. Since Major League Baseball expanded the ALCS to a best-of-seven format in 1985, a road team that has won Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead has gone on to win the series in four of five instances.

Tampa Bay reached this point by sweeping the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, while the Cleveland Guardians needed five games to eliminate the Chicago White Sox after dropping the first two. The Rays are 58-27 at home this year, including the postseason, a number manager Kevin Cash's team hopes to extend when the series shifts to Florida.

Who is affected

A Rays win Monday would send Tampa Bay to its third American League pennant and first since 2020, when the franchise lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. It would also end Cleveland's season one round short of a World Series the franchise has not won since 1948 — a drought manager Stephen Vogt's players have been asked about all October. The winner will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the National League Championship Series to reach their first World Series since 1982.

Reaction

Rasmussen, who allowed two runs over six innings in the series opener before Sunday's outing, credited an expanded changeup for keeping Cleveland's lineup off balance. "We were able to attack with the changeup a lot more tonight," he said. "The ability to drive the cutter to the top I thought was also another strength."

Cash praised the way his lineup worked counts early against Messick before Cleveland's bullpen made things difficult. Outfielder Jonny DeLuca, who has played behind Rasmussen for most of the season, said the right-hander's stuff makes defense feel almost unnecessary. "It gets kind of boring out there because it's incredible the stuff he has," DeLuca said. "But you like that because he's your teammate."

"It's a great opportunity. All of us are thinking of it. But it all ends tomorrow. We're going to win tomorrow," said Rays designated hitter Yandy Díaz, who had three hits in Sunday's win.

Vogt, whose Guardians have not won an ALCS after trailing 3-2, did not concede anything. "We know we've got our work cut out for us. It's a really good team and a really good team when they play at home, especially," he said. "We know this is going to be tough but if there's a group I'm betting on to get this done, it's our guys."

What happens next

Tampa Bay will start right-hander Freddy Peralta in Game 6 on Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Peralta threw six scoreless innings in his Game 2 start and worked two-thirds of an inning in relief Saturday. Cleveland had not named a starter as of Sunday night, though Vogt ruled out using right-hander Gavin Williams, who has started twice in the series. Should Cleveland force a Game 7, it would be played Tuesday back in Florida. The World Series is scheduled to open Friday in Milwaukee, regardless of which American League team completes the trip.