Rays Complete Three-Game Sweep of Yankees, Advance to ALCS

The Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees with a 4-3 win in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, eliminating New York and sending Tampa Bay to the AL Championship Series.

Tampa Bay got there with two pivotal swings and then held on late. Ryan Vilade, playing in his postseason debut, hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for his first career postseason homer. Victor Mesa Jr. followed with the game’s biggest hit, a two-run shot to right-center in the sixth that put the Rays ahead for good and gave them a two-run cushion. The Yankees answered in the bottom of the inning when Anthony Volpe drove in a run on a play initially ruled a home run but changed after a fan interference review to an RBI double, trimming the deficit to 4-3.

Rays starter Nick Martinez gave Tampa Bay 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs while recording 11 outs before handing the game to a bullpen that finished the sweep. Ian Seymour, Griffin Jax, Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker combined to protect the one-run lead. Kelly worked out of trouble in the eighth inning, and Baker closed the game. Yankees starter Max Fried took the loss after allowing seven hits and four earned runs over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven.

The teams finished with seven hits apiece. Tampa Bay committed the game’s only error, while New York played cleanly in the field, but the Rays still completed one of the more notable postseason results in franchise history by closing out the series in the Bronx.

According to the Rays’ MLB.com recap, it was the franchise’s first sweep in a best-of-five postseason series or longer. The same recap, citing historical records, said it was only the second time the Yankees have been swept in a best-of-five series. The other came in the 1980 AL Championship Series.

That made Wednesday’s result significant beyond the final out: Tampa Bay not only advanced, but did so by finishing off one of baseball’s most prominent postseason teams on its home field without allowing the series to return to Florida.

The Rays now move on to the ALCS and are scheduled to host Game 1 on Monday, Oct. 12, at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay, the top seed in the American League, will face the winner of the Cleveland Guardians-Chicago White Sox series. At the time of the Rays’ recap, Chicago led that series 2-1.