Rasmussen shines as Rays beat Guardians 3-1 to take 3-2 ALCS lead

CLEVELAND (AP) — Drew Rasmussen allowed one run over seven innings for his second post-season win, Tampa Bay’s offence kept on constant pressure, and the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven 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 LCS 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. The World Series starts Friday at National League 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’ offence 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 post-season 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 post-season. 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 centre-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 of Toronto 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 centre-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 centre 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 post-season 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.

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