Drew Rasmussen's seven innings put Rays one win from the World Series

CLEVELAND - When Drew Rasmussen starts, the Tampa Bay Rays usually win. Game 5 of the American League Championship Series was no exception.

Rasmussen worked seven innings Sunday night at Progressive Field, allowing one run on four hits and one walk while striking out six, as the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1. Tampa Bay leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 and returns to Tropicana Field needing one more victory for its third World Series trip, according to MLB.com.

ESPN's box matches that pitching line and lists Rasmussen at 95 pitches, 69 strikes.

The right-hander improved to 2-0 in the series. Bryan Baker closed the ninth for the save, per ESPN's box.

Changeup carries the night

Rasmussen said his changeup was the clearest difference from his Game 1 start against Cleveland. He threw it 27 times to Guardians left-handed hitters - 28 percent of his pitches, a career high for usage on that offering - and they did not record a hit against it, MLB.com reported.

"It's probably been the single greatest addition I've made to my repertoire in the entirety of my career," Rasmussen said after the game, per MLB.com.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt pointed to Rasmussen's fastball mix and command. "Three fastballs and a really good changeup," Vogt said, per the club's recap on MLB.com. "It's really hard to square up with three fastballs like that, and he had them all working."

Rasmussen retired nine batters in a row after a two-out single by Chase DeLauter in the first and retired 14 of the next 15 hitters before Cleveland scored in the sixth on two singles and a groundout, MLB.com wrote. The Guardians managed only six balls out of the infield against him.

Statcast tracked just three hard-hit balls off Rasmussen all night, and two of those were outs, the same report said.

Seventh inning righted

Game 1 had ended Rasmussen's night without an out in the seventh after Patrick Bailey's tying home run. Sunday was different. After Nathaniel Lowe's leadoff single in the seventh, Rasmussen retired Travis Bazzana and got Bailey to bounce into an inning-ending double play. He stepped off the mound and shouted toward Tampa Bay's dugout, MLB.com recounted.

"The way he limited anything was really, really impressive," manager Kevin Cash said, per MLB.com.

Infielder Ben Williamson summed up the start in three words after the game: "Just lights out," he said, according to MLB.com.

Early runs, then the ace

Tampa Bay scratched across runs in the first three innings to give Rasmussen a cushion. Yandy Díaz scored on a walk in the first. Jonathan Aranda singled home Ben Williamson in the second. Liam Hicks drove in Chandler Simpson with a single in the third, according to Baseball-Reference's play-by-play.

Díaz, speaking through interpreter Kevin Vera, put Rasmussen at the top of the league. "I say this with respect to every single Major League pitcher out there, but I really do think he's the best pitcher in MLB," Díaz said, per MLB.com.

Since his two-out relief appearance in the All-Star Game, Rasmussen has made 15 starts and Tampa Bay has won 14 of them, including ALDS Game 1 against the Yankees and Sunday's ALCS Game 5. Those outings made him the only pitcher in franchise history with multiple postseason starts of at least seven innings and one or zero runs allowed, MLB.com reported.

He is also the first Rays pitcher with three straight quality starts in a single postseason.

Since the All-Star break he is 11-0 with a 1.73 ERA, 99 strikeouts and 18 walks in 93 2/3 innings, the same report said.

Game 6 is Monday at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field, with TBS, truTV, UniMás and HBO Max carrying the broadcast, MLB.com listed. One more win puts Tampa Bay in the World Series. Rasmussen has already done his part to put them on the doorstep.

Sources

mlb.com

mlb.com

baseball-reference.com

ESPN