Rays 1, Yankees 0, and the scoreboard flatters the Yankees. The New York Yankees collected exactly one hit in ALDS Game 1 at Tropicana Field, a two-out double in the eighth inning, and the lone run of the night came on a swing Gerrit Cole would love to have back.
Drew Rasmussen did everything else. He went eight innings, allowed that single hit, walked two and struck out 10 on 101 pitches. The Rays now lead the best-of-five series 1-0.
The Pitch Cole Wants Back
Cole had traffic early and kept wriggling out of it. The Rays put a runner on in each of the first two innings (a single in the first, a double in the second) and stranded them both. Then came the third.
With one out and the count 2-2, Cole left a pitch where Jonathan Aranda could get to it. Aranda sent it 417 feet to right-center at 107.1 mph. That was the whole game.
Liam Hicks followed with a sharp double to right, and Cole stranded him when Chandler Simpson grounded out to Chisholm at second. The damage stopped at one. It just didn't need to go any further.
Cole's final line: five innings, five hits, one run, one walk, five strikeouts, 82 pitches. That's a start you'd sign up for in October (and it still lost, which is the cruel part).
Rasmussen Was the Story
Nothing the Yankees did against Rasmussen looked comfortable. Ben Rice went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Bellinger went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Jones and Grisham struck out twice each. Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a walk, which counted as a rally on this particular night.
Rasmussen threw 69 of his 101 pitches for strikes, and the quick innings gave the Yankees' dugout very little to chew on. By the eighth, the only open question was whether anyone in pinstripes would hit a ball cleanly. Wells finally did, which brings us to the part that hurts.
The Eighth Inning Mess
Chisholm and Grisham grounded out to open the eighth. Then Austin Wells lined a double to right, finally ending the no-hit bid with two outs.
It should have been a small victory, and instead it turned into a lost opportunity. Wells tried to stretch it. Right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. threw to shortstop Taylor Walls, Walls relayed to third baseman Junior Caminero, and Wells was out. The inning was over, and nobody got a chance to drive him in.
Credit the Rays for the clean relay, and give the Yankees a hard look at the decision. A runner on second with two outs and a one-run deficit is a position you protect, because the next hitter gets a chance to tie it.
The bottom of the eighth got tense for a minute. Yandy Diaz and Aranda lined out against Paul Blackburn, then Caminero walked. Hicks walked against Brent Headrick to put two aboard, and Headrick got Simpson to ground out to Chisholm at second to end the threat. Ryan Weathers, Blackburn and Headrick combined for three scoreless innings without allowing a hit, and the Yankees would take that if the offense had matched it.
Baker Closes It
Bryan Baker took the ninth for the save. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton, pinch-hitting, and Rice before getting Bellinger to ground out. Fourteen pitches, three outs, and a Rays bench that barely had to break a sweat. The Yankees went 1-for-27 at the plate on the night, which is a number nobody wants to put on a whiteboard.
One run is a small hole in a best-of-five, and Rice, Bellinger and the rest of the lineup have the talent to fill it. They just can't keep waiting until two outs in the eighth to show up.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
