By admin 
TAMPA, Fla. – These ain’t the New York Yankees.
The Tampa Bay 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.
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If Monday’s 7-3 loss in the opener of the best-of-seven AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians 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.
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 Boston 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.
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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 left-field 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.
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