TAMPA — Great pitching beat good pitching as the Tampa Bay Rays edged the New York Yankees 1-0 in ALDS Game 1 in Tampa Bay, taking a 1-0 series lead and spoiling a missed opportunity for New York in a tight, low-scoring opener. Tampa Bay limited New York to one hit in the pitchers' duel, with the Yankees' staff holding the Rays to one run on five hits but getting no offensive support.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen delivered the game of his life, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth and shutting out the Yankees over eight innings while allowing one hit, two walks and striking out 10. He ramped up his cutter and changeup against the lefty-heavy Yankees lineup, generating 10 whiffs on 18 swings against his power changeup at 89-90 mph while painting the corners with his cutter and sinker. For New York, Gerrit Cole held Tampa Bay to one run over five innings despite not being at his sharpest, and manager Aaron Boone leveraged Ryan Weathers in his postseason debut plus Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick for three no-hit innings in relief.
New York's lone hit came when Austin Wells roped a line drive down the right-field line to break up the no-hitter with two outs in the eighth, then tried to stretch the double into a triple and was thrown out by Victor Mesa Jr. in right field. The decision was costly on win probability math, with advancing to third adding roughly one percentage point to New York's chances while being thrown out reduced them by seven or eight percent, requiring close to a 90 percent success rate to justify the attempt.
The Yankees had hoped to steal a low-scoring game — the type of 3-2 and 2-1 wins that carried them in the second half while the offense floundered without Aaron Judge — and set up the presumptive AL Cy Young winner to bury Tampa Bay in Game 2. Instead, Cam Schlittler will need to shove to avoid falling into a 2-0 ALDS hole for the second consecutive season against a tough Rays squad. Rasmussen's 8-inning gem lifted Tampa Bay to a 1-0 win in the opener, leaving New York to regroup rather than build a commanding lead.