Rays Win AL Pennant With 7–3 Victory Over Guardians in Game 6

The Tampa Bay Rays are American League champions. Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz each hit a two-run homer, Freddy Peralta carried a shutout into the sixth inning and the Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 on Monday, October 19, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Tampa Bay won the AL Championship Series four games to two, taking the final three games after falling behind 2-1. The franchise’s third pennant sends the Rays to Milwaukee for a World Series between two clubs still seeking their first championship.

The clincher required two very different kinds of offense. Richie Palacios’ second-inning double and Jonny DeLuca’s sacrifice fly built a three-run lead. Caminero and Díaz supplied the late power, with Díaz’s eighth-inning drive restoring a four-run margin immediately after Cleveland had drawn within two.

Between those home runs, Kevin Kelly delivered three of the most consequential pitches of the night. Cleveland had the bases loaded, two runs already in and the go-ahead run on first when Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio to end the eighth. Bryan Baker then retired the Guardians in order in the ninth before a crowd of 40,230.

Scoring summary

X: Tampa Bay did not bat in the ninth. Final: Rays 7, Guardians 3. Tampa Bay won the series 4–2.

Palacios turns speed into an early lead

Cleveland opened with Shawn Armstrong, who retired the Rays’ first three hitters but allowed a leadoff single to Caminero in the second. Tim Herrin entered with a runner on first and no outs. Chandler Simpson replaced Caminero on base with a forceout, then stole second as Victor Mesa Jr. drew a walk.

DeLuca’s lineout moved Simpson to third, and Mesa also stole second. With two outs, Palacios doubled to right to score both runners. Armstrong was charged with Simpson’s run because Simpson had replaced the runner Armstrong put aboard; Herrin was charged with Mesa’s. Matt Festa eventually ended the inning by retiring Jonathan Aranda with the bases loaded.

The Rays added a run in the third against Joey Cantillo. Liam Hicks singled, Caminero walked and Simpson bunted for a hit to load the bases with nobody out. Cleveland forced Hicks at home on Mesa’s grounder, but DeLuca’s fly to left brought Caminero home for a 3-0 lead.

Those innings made the bottom of Tampa Bay’s order central to the early scoring. Palacios drove in two from the eighth spot, DeLuca drove in the third run from seventh and Simpson and Mesa used their speed to put two runners in scoring position before Palacios’ double. Later, ninth-place hitter Taylor Walls drew the last of his three walks ahead of Díaz’s homer.

Peralta works around Cleveland’s chances

Peralta gave Tampa Bay 5⅓ innings, allowing one run on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts. He threw 84 pitches, 51 for strikes, and earned the victory. Cleveland put men aboard in each of the first five innings except the second and still reached the sixth trailing 3-0.

The third and fourth offered Cleveland its best early openings. Rocchio singled and José Ramírez walked in the third, but Hicks successfully challenged a pitch to Chase DeLauter, turning the call into an inning-ending strikeout. In the fourth, Jo Adell led off with a double and Nathaniel Lowe walked. Travis Bazzana lined out before Patrick Bailey grounded into a double play, with Walls taking care of the force at second and throwing to Aranda at first.

DeLauter finally broke through with a leadoff double in the sixth. After Adell grounded out, Lowe singled to center to cut the lead to 3-1. Kevin Cash went to left-hander Cam Booser, who stranded Lowe and then worked a clean seventh. Booser retired all five batters he faced, giving the Rays a route from Peralta’s exit to the late innings without another Cleveland hit.

Caminero supplies power, Kelly stops the rally

Cleveland had kept the Rays scoreless from the fourth through the sixth. Daniel Espino stranded two inherited runners in the fourth, and Erik Sabrowski worked around Palacios’ leadoff single in the sixth. But Cade Smith began the seventh by walking Hicks, and Caminero followed with a homer to left. It was his first home run of this postseason and pushed Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-1.

The Guardians answered against Tyler Wells in the eighth. DeLauter reached on an infield single after Cleveland successfully challenged the call at first. With two outs, Lowe singled to right. Cash brought in Ian Seymour, who walked Bazzana to load the bases and Bailey to force in DeLauter. Angel Martínez was then hit by a pitch, forcing home Lowe and making it 5-3.

Kelly entered with all three bases occupied and no room for another free pass. He struck out Rocchio swinging on three pitches, leaving the tying runs in scoring position. Both runs were charged to Wells, who had put DeLauter and Lowe aboard. Seymour recorded no outs, inherited those two runners and allowed both to score; Kelly inherited three and stranded them all.

With one out in the bottom half, Walls walked against Hunter Gaddis. Díaz homered to left to make it 7-3, completing an evening in which the Rays scored seven runs on seven hits. Cleveland also had seven hits, but all were singles or doubles, and the Guardians finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay was 2-for-9 in those situations, with the two homers accounting for four more runs.

Baker needed nine pitches to finish. Kwan grounded out to Aranda with Baker covering first, Ramírez grounded to Aranda and DeLauter popped to Hicks in foul territory for the final out. The four-run lead meant Baker did not receive a save.

Reaction and interview status

Díaz had spoken confidently after Sunday’s Game 5 in Cleveland. Asked about the opportunity to reach the World Series, he said, “But it all ends tomorrow. We’re going to win tomorrow.” His eighth-inning homer helped complete that prediction.

Game 6 postgame interviews from the Rays and Guardians were not available in the original transcripts and official team sources reviewed for this report. The Díaz comment above is from October 18 after Game 5.

Lineups and pitching decisions

Tampa Bay used the same nine hitters throughout the game. Hicks batted third, between Aranda and Caminero, and reached twice ahead of Caminero: his third-inning single began the rally that produced DeLuca’s sacrifice fly, and his seventh-inning walk became the first run on Caminero’s homer. Caminero finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Palacios also had two hits.

Cleveland used eight pitchers to cover eight innings, while Tampa Bay used six to cover nine. Peralta alone recorded 16 outs before Booser supplied another five. That difference in length did not make Cleveland’s final innings inevitable: Espino and Sabrowski combined for 2⅓ scoreless innings, and Smith and Gaddis each entered with the game still within reach. The Rays’ two homers came against those last two relievers.

Stephen Vogt used David Fry to hit for Petey Halpin in the seventh. Martínez subsequently moved to left field and Kwan to center. In the eighth, Martínez’s hit-by-pitch produced Cleveland’s final run; Angel Genao ran for Bailey, and Genao and Austin Hedges entered the defense for the bottom half. DeLauter and Lowe each finished with two hits, but Cleveland’s first two hitters, Kwan and Ramírez, went a combined 1-for-8 with two walks.

Player statistics

All figures below are from Game 6 only. Scroll horizontally to see every column on a phone.

David Fry pinch-hit for Petey Halpin in the seventh. Angel Martínez entered in left field, and Steven Kwan moved to center. Angel Genao pinch-ran for Patrick Bailey in the eighth and played shortstop; Austin Hedges entered at catcher in Brayan Rocchio’s batting-order spot. Genao and Hedges participated without a plate appearance.

Abbreviations: PA: plate appearances; AB: at-bats; R: runs; H: hits; RBI: runs batted in; 2B: doubles; 3B: triples; HR: home runs; BB: walks; K: strikeouts; HBP: hit by pitch; SB: stolen bases; SF: sacrifice flies; IP: innings pitched; ER: earned runs; BF: batters faced; P–S: pitches–strikes; IR–Sc: inherited runners–inherited runners who scored; LOB: runners left on base; E: errors; W/L/H: win/loss/hold; DH: designated hitter; PH: pinch hitter; PR: pinch runner; C: catcher; 1B/2B/3B/SS: first base/second base/third base/shortstop; LF/CF/RF: left/center/right field. In pitching, .1 means one out and .2 means two outs, not tenths of an inning. Team LOB counts runners stranded at inning ends; it is not the sum of individual LOB.

Cleveland Guardians unused personnel: unused pitchers: Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi, Foster Griffin, Parker Messick, Gavin Williams. These players are not counted as game participants above.

Tampa Bay Rays unused personnel: unused bench players: Nick Fortes, Jorge Mateo, Cedric Mullins, Ryan Vilade, Ben Williamson; unused pitchers: Brody Hopkins, Griffin Jax, Nick Martinez, Steven Matz, Drew Rasmussen, Cole Sulser. These players are not counted as game participants above.

Next: Rays at Brewers

World Series Game 1 is Friday, October 23, at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The scheduled first pitch is 6 p.m. MDT, with FOX and FOX ONE carrying the U.S. national broadcast. Neither starting pitcher was listed as confirmed in MLB’s schedule at the time of this report.

The Rays return to the World Series after their appearances in 2008 and 2020. Milwaukee will be their opponent as both clubs pursue a first championship. Cleveland’s season ends one round short of the World Series after a six-game ALCS.

Sources and official highlights

Official MLB video links open the plays on MLB.com.

• Richie Palacios' two-run double (00:00:29)
• Junior Caminero's two-run homer (00:00:32)
• Kevin Kelly escapes bases-loaded jam (00:00:17)
• Yandy Díaz's two-run homer (00:00:28)
• Rays advance to the World Series (00:00:11)

Statistics and scoring: MLB Game 6 Gameday and box score. Next game: World Series Game 1.