Game result and context
Tampa Bay Rays beat New York Yankees 1-0 in AL Division Series Game 1
Jonathan Aranda's solo homer in the third inning stood up as the only run, and Drew Rasmussen pitched 8.0 scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 1-0 in Game 1 of the AL Division Series.
Final result
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 1-0 at Tropicana Field in Game 1 of the AL Division Series. Tampa Bay leads the best-of-five series and is 1-0. New York is 0-1.
How the game changed
One swing did it. Jonathan Aranda homered in the bottom of the third inning, and nobody scored again.
The Yankees put up zeros in every inning. The Rays did too, apart from the third.
Key performances
Drew Rasmussen carried the Rays. He pitched 8.0 innings, struck out 10, allowed no earned runs and earned the win. Bryan Baker handled the ninth, striking out 2 for the save.
Gerrit Cole was nearly as good for New York. He went 5.0 innings with 5 strikeouts and allowed only the 1 earned run, which was enough to hang the loss on him.
Aranda went 1 for 4. Liam Hicks had a hit in 3 at-bats for Tampa Bay, and Austin Wells had one of the few New York hits, going 1 for 3.
Season and playoff context
Tampa Bay took the opener at home on the strength of its pitching. New York's offense will have to find a way against this staff in Game 2.