On a crisp 62-degree night in the Bronx, the Tampa Bay Rays went into the Boogie-Down and defeated the New York Yankees 4-3 to advance to their third ALCS in franchise history.
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It didn’t come without drama, however.
In the top of the third inning, Jonathan Aranda drove in Jonny DeLuca with an RBI single, and the Yankees answered right back with an RBI single from Ben Rice to knot the game at 1.
Both squads would trade blows again in the fourth, as Ryan Vilade homered off of lefty max Fried, and
Spencer Jones drove in Anthony Volpe on an RBI double. We’ll revisit him in a New York minute.
Rays starting pitcher Nick Martinez exited in the fourth inning after being hit in the back with an Anthony Volpe line drive, and Ian Seymour would take over, throwing an 1 1/3 innings and securing the win while only surrendering one hit.
In the top of the sixth, Max Fried’s last pitch of the night, a sweeper to Victor Mesa Jr. landed in somebody’s nachos to get the Rays’ lead to 4-2,
In the bottom half, things got weird.
Anthony Volpe hit a fly ball to the left fielder Mesa Jr. very close to the wall, and a fan interfered. George Lombard Jr. was a baserunner on the play, and already past second base. So when the play was reviewed, the umpires working the replay room in New York awarded him the run and placed Volpe on second base.
However, ball doesn’t lie, and Seymour would strike out Spencer Jones to end the frame.
We see pinch-hit duties later on in the contest, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Giancarlo Stanton pop out to first base and strike out, respectively.
And with three outs, Brian Baker shut the door by way of two strikeouts, and the party was on shortly thereafter.
Tampa Bay will probably be watching the Guardians-White Sox series a little more intently, as they face the winner of those two clubs on Monday in the American League Championship Series.
