The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the New York Yankees 1-0 on Saturday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series.
Drew Rasmussen (1-0, 0.00) was dominant, pitching eight shutout innings while striking out ten and walking two. The only hit he allowed in the game came in the last batter he faced - a double to Austin Wells with two outs in the eighth inning. On the play, Wells was thrown out trying to turn a double into a triple and Rasmussen got out of the eighth inning completely unscathed.
Jonathan Aranda accounted for the only offense in the game, hitting a solo homer in the third inning to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. That would remain the score after Bryan Baker worked a perfect ninth inning to convert the save and give Tampa Bay an early lead in the series.
The Rays and Yankees now prepare for game two of the best-of-five series coming up on Monday night. Freddy Peralta (10-11, 4.42 regular season) is scheduled to start for the Rays and face Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.95 regular season) for New York. First pitch Monday is scheduled for 8:00 PM - pregame coverage begins with Ronnie Lane hosting Inside Pitch at 7:00 PM on 95.7 WDAE & AM 620, your Home of Rays Baseball.
COVER PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMAGES