Rasmussen’s near no-hitter and a sharp relay carry Rays past Yankees

Drew Rasmussen came within four outs of a postseason no-hitter, and Tampa Bay still needed a clean relay to protect the game he had built. The Rays beat the Yankees 1–0 at Tropicana Field on Saturday, taking the opener of their American League Division Series with five hits of their own and only one run to spare. A sellout crowd of 40,542 saw a game completed in two and a half hours.[1][6]

Austin Wells supplied New York’s only hit with two outs in the eighth. He drove a sinker down the right-field line and tried to reach third. Victor Mesa Jr. recovered the ball and found shortstop Taylor Walls, whose throw reached Junior Caminero in time for the tag. The Yankees had finally broken through against Rasmussen, but their first hit also produced the last out of his evening. Bryan Baker then finished the shutout.[4]

The pitches behind the near no-hitter

Rasmussen’s command made the Yankees defend more than one part of the strike zone. Aaron Boone described a pitcher who could work inside and outside, high and low, while making hitters respect his four-seam fastball. That left them vulnerable to pitches on other edges. Knowing strikes were coming did not make them easier to square up: New York’s hitters struck out ten times against Rasmussen and drew no walks after the third inning.[3]

Rasmussen described a much less settled experience from his side of the mound. “My heartbeat was about a thousand beats per minute,” he told the TNT Sports broadcast. He said he relied on catcher Liam Hicks to choose the pitches and concentrated on executing them. That partnership helped keep the task manageable through a start in which every pitch carried the risk of changing a one-run game.[1]

Rasmussen needed nine pitches in the fourth and another nine in the fifth. In the sixth, Ryan McMahon tried to bunt his way aboard, but Rasmussen fielded the ball and threw him out. Cody Bellinger ended that inning looking at a sinker on the high inside corner.[2]

Rasmussen finished with 23 swings and misses, above his previous season high of 20 against Boston in June. Tampa Bay has now won thirteen consecutive games he has started. Postseason no-hitters belong to Don Larsen, Roy Halladay and the four Houston pitchers who combined for one in the 2022 World Series.[4]

One swing gave Cole no margin

Jonathan Aranda supplied the lead in the third, pulling Gerrit Cole’s changeup into the right-center seats. Tampa Bay had already threatened against that pitch: Richie Palacios doubled in the second after coming close to clearing the fence. Cole escaped that inning and kept working after Aranda’s homer. He struck out Caminero on the twelfth pitch of their fifth-inning meeting, ending his outing with the deficit still at one.[2]

Cole was making his first postseason appearance since Tommy John surgery in March 2025. He allowed one run in five innings. Rasmussen had undergone two elbow-ligament operations in college and an internal-brace procedure in 2023. Their returns produced a game separated by one home run.[7]

Ryan Weathers gave the Yankees another useful return. Pitching for the first time since August 22 after a left forearm flexor strain, he retired three left-handed hitters on grounders to first base in the sixth. He needed nine pitches. New York had kept him off its wild-card roster to allow more preparation; afterward, he told the New York Post he felt healthy and expected to be available again Monday. His efficient inning helped preserve a game the offense could still rescue.[5]

The chance that disappeared at third

Wells explained his decision through the speed of the Tropicana Field turf. He believed a single might reach an outfielder quickly enough to keep him from scoring from second; reaching third would remove that concern. The calculation demanded that he beat the relay, and he did not. Boone called it a mistake while placing the larger problem with Rasmussen’s control of the lineup. Staying at second would have preserved a scoring chance, not guaranteed a run.[3]

That distinction mattered for a lineup missing Aaron Judge, who was left off the ALDS roster with a strained right calf and had not played since September 16. The Yankees had nevertheless scored eighteen runs while sweeping Boston in the wild-card round. Rasmussen had also stifled them on September 22, when he carried a no-hit attempt into the seventh in the victory that clinched Tampa Bay’s division title. This was a familiar matchup producing a more consequential result.[1]

Boone’s last attempt to change it came through Giancarlo Stanton. The designated hitter replaced McMahon to begin the ninth for his first at-bat since April 24, following three calf strains. Stanton fouled off the first pitch, worked through the next three and foul-tipped Baker’s inside fastball into the catcher’s glove for strike three. Boone said afterward that he liked the at-bat: Stanton had tracked the pitches and produced a chance to connect. The result left New York with two outs remaining.[5]

Saturday brought postseason baseball back to Tropicana Field after Hurricane Milton damaged its roof in 2024. Tampa Bay spent the following season at the Yankees’ spring-training park. The returning crowd saw its team win through pitching, Aranda’s homer and a relay that protected the lead.[7]

Game 2 is Monday at Tropicana Field, with Freddy Peralta scheduled to face Cam Schlittler. Tampa Bay has the first win in the best-of-five series. The Yankees now need three of the remaining four, after an opener in which their pitching kept them close and their offense found almost nothing.[2]