Rays beat Guardians 7-3 to win AL pennant, will face Brewers in World Series
The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the World Series. Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero each hit a two-run homer and Freddy Peralta pitched 5⅓ innings as the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7–3 in Game 6 of the ALCS on Monday night at Tropicana Field.
How the Rays closed it out
Richie Palacios gave Tampa Bay a 2–0 lead in the second with a two-run double. Jonny DeLuca added a sacrifice fly in the third. Cleveland got one back on Nathaniel Lowe's RBI single in the sixth.
Caminero then hit his first career postseason homer in the seventh, off the left-field foul pole, to make it 5–1. AP said he was the first player to homer on a splitter from All-Star closer Cade Smith. He hit 42 homers in the regular season but needed 33 at-bats to get one in October.
The eighth-inning scare
Cleveland loaded the bases in the eighth. Ian Seymour walked Patrick Bailey to force in a run, then hit Angel Martínez with a pitch to force in another. That made it 5–3, with the go-ahead run on first base.
Kevin Kelly came in and struck out Brayan Rocchio on three changeups. In the bottom of the inning, Díaz hit his homer off Hunter Gaddis to restore a four-run lead. Closer Bryan Baker finished it.
I'm really glad he backed it up, that's for sure. We know when Yandy goes, our offense seems to really take off.
Peralta's series
Peralta, acquired from the New York Mets before the trade deadline, allowed one run on five hits in the clincher. He threw six scoreless innings to win Game 2 and got two key outs in relief in Game 4. Cash announced the award on the postgame stage by calling him "Fastball Freddy."
"This is not only mine. We all earned this. This is for the boys," Peralta said.
Cleveland used a bullpen game, hoping to reach Game 7 with ace Gavin Williams. Cleveland opener Shawn Armstrong became the first pitcher in postseason history to start a game after pitching on both of the previous two days, AP said. The loss extends Cleveland's championship drought to 78 years.
"It just hurts. It stings," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "Really felt like we had a team to go and just weren't able to get there."
A first title is guaranteed
The Rays played their 2025 home games in Tampa after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field. They came back to win 55 home games this year. A new ballpark is due in 2029.
| Rays | Brewers | |
|---|---|---|
| Regular season | 98–64 | 103–59 |
| World Series titles | 0 | 0 |
| Path | Swept Yankees, beat Guardians 4–2 | NL champions |
