Game result and context
Rays 7, Guardians 3: Tampa Bay wins ALCS as Cleveland strands 18 runners
Palacios doubled home two in the second, Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz homered late, and the Guardians left 18 on base as the Rays took the series 4-2.
Richie Palacios lifted a fly ball to right field in the bottom of the second inning, doubling to right fielder Chase DeLauter and scoring Chandler Simpson and Victor Mesa Jr. That 2-0 lead held up. The Tampa Bay Rays led the rest of the way and beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 at Tropicana Field on Monday night, winning the AL Championship Series four games to two.
The double raised Tampa Bay's win probability to 74 percent, the largest swing of the night. Palacios finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and is hitting .364 this postseason, after batting .235 over 124 regular-season games.
Cleveland's trouble was not getting on base. The Guardians had seven hits and drew walks throughout, but they left 18 runners on. Their first run came in the sixth, when Nathaniel Lowe singled sharply to center to score DeLauter. Two more came in the eighth without a hit: Patrick Bailey walked with the bases loaded, and Angel Martínez was hit by a pitch to force in Lowe, cutting the lead to 5-3. With the bases still loaded, Kevin Kelly came on and struck out Brayan Rocchio swinging. Tampa Bay also stranded runners, 19 of them, but converted enough chances to stay ahead.
The Guardians scored seven runs in a Game 1 win, then scored 1, 3, 3, 1 and 3 in the five games that followed. They won two of the first three games before losing three straight. José Ramírez went 0-for-4 with a walk on Monday, his second hitless game in the last three; he is batting .293 this postseason.
The Rays' late power settled things. In the seventh, Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer to left, his first of the postseason, scoring Liam Hicks for a 5-1 lead. Caminero went 2-for-3 with a walk. After Cleveland's two runs in the eighth, Yandy Díaz answered with a two-run homer to left that scored Taylor Walls. It was his second homer this postseason, and he is hitting .308 in October.
Both blows came against the back of Cleveland's bullpen. Cade Smith, who had not allowed an earned run in three earlier ALCS appearances, was charged with two in one inning. Hunter Gaddis also allowed two. Shawn Armstrong took the loss as Cleveland used eight pitchers.
Freddy Peralta earned the win for Tampa Bay, allowing one earned run on five hits over 5.1 innings, with three walks and three strikeouts on 84 pitches. Cam Booser followed with 1.2 hitless innings. Peralta's postseason ERA is 1.08 across 16.2 innings, against a 4.99 ERA in 22 regular-season starts.
The Rays are 7-2 this postseason and have won three straight. Cleveland's season ends with three consecutive losses, and with a lineup that kept reaching base in the final game but could not bring enough of those runners home.