The Rays left Yankee Stadium with their October mission still very much alive, turning a 4-3 Game 3 win Wednesday night into a three-game AL Division Series sweep of New York. Tampa Bay will carry that momentum back to Tropicana Field for Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday, where it will meet either Cleveland or Chicago. The White Sox held a 2-1 edge in that series.
For a club that entered the year with many expecting a last-place finish in the AL East, the scene in the visiting clubhouse had a little extra weight. Tampa Bay had already reached the postseason and captured its first division crown in five years, but its players had made clear those achievements were not meant to be the finish line. The Rays have now taken three of the 11 victories they believe are required to complete the job, leaving eight to chase.
This was the first postseason sweep by Tampa Bay in any best-of-five series or longer. It also marked just the second time the Yankees had been swept in a five-game postseason format, following the 1980 American League Championship Series.
The Rays won the series in the same fashion that carried them through the regular season: sound pitching, dependable defense and an offense capable of finding a different contributor on a given night. Their rotation did much of the heavy lifting in the first two games at Tropicana Field, and Tampa Bay again built Game 3 around its arms.
Nick Martinez worked 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs before handing the game over to the bullpen. Ian Seymour recorded four outs, then Griffin Jax covered two innings. Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker took care of the late frames, protecting a one-run lead through the eighth and ninth.
Two less-heralded bats supplied the decisive damage. Ryan Vilade, appearing in his first postseason game, opened the scoring punch in the fourth inning when he sent a Max Fried pitch just beyond the right-field wall for a solo homer. The bigger swing came in the sixth, after the Yankees had pulled even. Victor Mesa Jr. drove a two-run home run to right-center, breaking the tie and giving Tampa Bay the margin it needed. Mesa lingered briefly near the batter’s box, looking toward the Rays’ dugout as the ball carried out.
The Yankees had the talent and the regular-season résumé of the American League’s second-best club, but Tampa Bay did not allow the series to become a long one. The Rays kept playing the brand of baseball that made them division champions over 162 games, and now the champagne can wait for another round.
