Rays beat Guardians 7-3 in Game 6, reach World Series

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 on Monday night to win the American League Championship Series 4-2 and reach the World Series for the third time in franchise history.

The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee.

Tampa Bay trailed the series 1-0 and again 2-1 before winning three straight games. A sellout crowd of 40,230 at Tropicana Field watched the clincher.

Right-hander Freddy Peralta, who was named ALCS MVP, allowed one run and five hits over 5 1/3 innings for his second win of the series, The Associated Press reported. Bryan Baker closed it out.

Richie Palacios gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run double to right-centre, and Jonny DeLuca’s sacrifice fly in the third made it 3-0. Tampa Bay loaded the bases with no outs in that inning but did not score again.

Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single in the sixth drove in Cleveland’s first run. Junior Caminero then hit a two-run homer off the left-field foul pole against Cade Smith in the seventh for a 5-1 lead. It was the first postseason home run of his career, after he hit 42 in the regular season.

Yandy Diaz added a two-run homer off Hunter Gaddis in the eighth to make it 7-3. The Guardians scored twice in the eighth but left the bases loaded.

“We got one more bite!” Rays manager Kevin Cash said to his players as the clubhouse celebration began, according to the AP.

Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said his team never gave up. “Our guys never quit. They never stopped fighting. That’s who they are,” Vogt said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our group. It just hurts. It stings.”

The Rays finished the regular season 98-64 to win the AL East. The Brewers went 103-59, the best record in baseball, and are in the World Series for the first time since they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1982.

Tampa Bay lost the 2008 World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games and the 2020 World Series to the Dodgers in six. The Rays won 55 home games this season, a total matched only by the Brewers.

The win came 18 years to the day after the franchise clinched its first AL pennant in 2008. Tampa Bay also has new ownership this season and has secured a new stadium deal, the AP reported.

Earlier on our site: the Rays’ win in Game 4 that evened the series, the Brewers’ sweep of the Dodgers and the Rays one win from the World Series.

Via TSN and The Associated Press.

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