Rays are AL East champs for 5th time after beating Yankees in nightcap

NEW YORK — The Rays clinched their first American League East title in Detroit in 2008, coming back to the clubhouse hours after a loss to celebrate after the Yankees eliminated the Red Sox in a rain-delayed game that ended close to 1 a.m.

They clinched in Kansas City on the dramatic last day of the 2010 season. When they won at the Mets’ stadium during the COVID-impacted 2020 season, they shot off confetti cannons and sprayed silly string since champagne and beer weren’t allowed. And amid the comforts of home at Tropicana Field in 2021, they beat the Marlins and gathered on the turf field with family and friends.

Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, with ace Drew Rasmussen not allowing a hit for the first six innings and one over seven to lead them to a 6-1 victory that eliminated the home team, the Rays clinched in what once would have seemed like the most unlikeliest of places.

Not just enemy territory, but winning on the home turf of the arch-rival Yankees, who for much of the early years of the Rays’ existence were the big bullies, winning 44 of the first 55 games at Yankee Stadium, including all 10 in 2004.

The Rays had a chance to take care of their business earlier Tuesday, but lost 2-0 in the matinee opener of the doubleheader, which was the result of a May 23 rainout.

In the nightcap, as they debuted their new gray “Tampa Bay” road jerseys, they scratched out the runs they needed and watched as Rasmussen pitched every bit like the ace the Rays’ consider him. He struck out 11 while walking two and allowed only a double leading off the seventh. He left with two out and two on, and reliever Kevin Kelly allowed one run on a single, then Cam Booser worked the eighth and Bryan Baker the ninth.

The Rays won the AL East for the third time since 2020, more than the Yankees or any other team. And for the fifth time since their 2008 rebranding as the Rays, just one fewer than the Yankees, and more than anyone else.

“When you put it that way, for myself, it makes me feel really happy,” Diaz, the longest-tenured current Ray, said earlier Tuesday about the possibility, via team interpreter Kevin Vera.

“But also I just think of all my teammates, the coaching staff, everybody in this organization, and the work that’s been put since the 2020 mark and this year as a whole. It just means a whole lot to us.”

The win improved the Rays’ AL-leading record to 96-61, clinched the top seed among AL playoff teams and earned a first-round bye. They will open best-of-five division series play at home on Oct. 3, against the winner of what likely will be a Yankees-Red Sox wild-card series matchup.

The Rays got one run in the third when Ryan Vilade’s groundout scored Taylor Walls, who led off with an infield single.

They added three more in the seventh after Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson led off with singles. After Simpson moved to third on a fly out, Walls brought him home with a well-placed bunt. So well, that the Yankees had no one covering first so Walls was safe.

That mattered as with two outs, Diaz snapped an 0-for-26 skid with a hard single to left-center, scoring Williamson and Walls, whose headfirst slide and tag avoidance stood up to a replay review.

Diaz delivered again in the ninth with another two-run single, scoring Walls and Cedric Mullins.

Also rewarding is their return to the postseason, having posted losing records the past two seasons after a five-year run (2019-23) of qualifying, including a trip to the 2020 World Series.

“We got so, I guess, accustomed and used to winning and feeling like you could just show up and win every day. And then the past two years were kind of a gut punch of, regardless of what happened, whether it was guys getting hurt or whatever the case may be, just not playing up to expectations,” Walls said earlier Tuesday.

“I think those last two seasons were very humbling, and so to come back in here this year, especially when expectations were for us to be bottom of the barrel again in the division, and then to have the season like we’ve had, and hopefully be able to finish it out strong, it’ll be something that everybody in this organization is gonna be happy about.”

The Rays also found some motivation in not being given a chance by most insiders and media experts at winning the division.

“We love being the underdog and coming in and proving people wrong,” veteran reliever Cole Sulser said Tuesday morning. “I know we weren’t projected to begin the season to do very well in this division, so we love showing up and proving teams wrong. It’s great to play with that chip on your shoulder.

“It’s just a great clubhouse full of guys, and I think we’re all kind of in that same boat where we want to show up, prove people that we’re a team to be contended with, and go from there.”

There wasn’t much the Rays did wrong in Tuesday’s matinee, they just didn’t do enough right.

Starter Nick Martinez zipped through the first three innings, then opened the fourth allowing a double to Ben Rice. On the next pitch, he gave up a two-run homer to Cody Bellinger, leaving a sinker “right in his loop, right where he likes it,” and regretting it immediately.

“It wasn’t a great-executed pitch to either of those guys, and those guys are two guys that are for sure going to capitalize,” Martinez said. “So, two pitches I wish I could take back or better execute to get a better read on maybe the rest of the at-bat. I just felt like it wasn’t executed.”

Overall, Martinez (15-5, 2.94) worked his usual six solid innings, allowing five hits total and one walk while striking out seven.

“Both of (those pitches) leaked back over (the plate) and (they) capitalized,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “But Nick did everything else really, really incredibly well as usual.”

The bigger problem was that his Rays teammates didn’t do much to help, rapping only the three singles off Yankees starter Carlos Rodon, who worked eight strong innings, striking out eight with no walks. In being shut out for the ninth time, the Rays did not get a runner even to second base.