ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Diya TV) — The Tampa Bay Rays held off a bases-loaded Cleveland rally in the eighth inning, then pulled away on Yandy Díaz’s second home run of the night to beat the Guardians 7-3 Monday and win the American League Championship Series in six games.
The victory sends Tampa Bay to its third World Series and its first since 2020. The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers, with Game 1 scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. ET in Milwaukee. Neither franchise has won a World Series title.
Richie Palacios put Tampa Bay ahead with a two-run double in the second inning, and Jonny DeLuca’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0 in the third. Cleveland scored once in the sixth, then threatened to take the lead in the eighth.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Ian Seymour walked in a run and hit Angel Martínez with a pitch, cutting the Rays’ lead to 5-3. Kevin Kelly replaced him and struck out Brayan Rocchio, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
Junior Caminero had given Tampa Bay breathing room in the seventh with a two-run homer off the left-field foul pole. It was his first postseason home run, after he hit 42 during the regular season. Díaz added a 416-foot, two-run shot in the eighth off Hunter Gaddis. Díaz had predicted a Game 6 win the day before.
Freddy Peralta allowed one run and five hits over 5⅓ innings. He earned his second win of the series and the ALCS Most Valuable Player award. Across three appearances, he posted a 0.75 ERA with nine strikeouts in 12 innings, including six scoreless innings in Game 2 and two key outs in relief in Game 4.
Peralta’s path to the World Series adds a twist to the matchup: Milwaukee traded him to the New York Mets in January, and Tampa Bay acquired him from the Mets in August. He will now face the team where he spent most of his major league career.
The Rays had trailed the Guardians 1-0 and 2-1 in the series before winning the final three games. Monday’s clincher also fell on the 18th anniversary of Tampa Bay’s first American League pennant, in 2008. A sellout crowd of 40,230 watched at Tropicana Field, where fans rang cowbells and waved rally towels.
Milwaukee will host the first two World Series games. Tampa Bay is scheduled to host Games 3 through 5, if needed; the series returns to Milwaukee for Games 6 and 7, if necessary. The Brewers finished the regular season with 103 wins, compared with Tampa Bay’s 98.
