Rays World Series Bound After 7-3 Game 6 Win
Yandy Díaz backed up his guarantee, Junior Caminero hit his first postseason homer, and ALCS MVP Freddy Peralta sent the Rays to a first-title showdown with Milwaukee.
By The Beat Writer — CelebnMusic247
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays are going back to the World Series, and they got there exactly the way Yandy Díaz said they would.
Díaz and Junior Caminero each hit a two-run homer and Freddy Peralta pitched 5 1/3 gritty innings as the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night, per AP. It is the third pennant in the franchise’s 29 seasons, and the first World Series berth since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
A guarantee, backed up
Díaz had guaranteed a Game 6 victory through an interpreter on Sunday, per AP — then delivered the exclamation point himself, a two-run shot off Hunter Gaddis in the eighth that stretched the lead to four. “We got one more bite!” manager Kevin Cash told his team as the clubhouse celebration started, per AP.
Tampa Bay jumped ahead 2-0 in the second on Richie Palacios’ two-run double — Palacios began his career with Cleveland, per Field Level Media — and Caminero’s seventh-inning blast, his first career postseason homer, came off All-Star closer Cade Smith. Cleveland refused to fold: the Guardians had the go-ahead run at first in the eighth after scoring twice, before Kevin Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio to leave the bases loaded, per AP. Closer Bryan Baker finished it.
Peralta, named ALCS MVP, allowed one run on five hits in Game 6 and went 2-0 across three appearances in the series — six scoreless innings to win Game 2, two outs in relief in Game 4, and Monday’s start — yielding one run in 12 innings overall, per Field Level Media.
A Fall Classic with a guaranteed first champion
The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers — Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee — in the first World Series matchup in which both teams are seeking their first title since 1980, when Philadelphia beat Kansas City, per AP. Tampa Bay lost its previous two trips, in 2008 and 2020.
For Cleveland, the loss extends a World Series championship drought to 78 years, per AP. “I couldn’t be more proud of our group,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It just hurts. It stings.” A sellout crowd of 40,230 at Tropicana Field — a building that needed major renovations after Hurricane Milton shredded its roof two years ago, per AP — got the other ending. Eighteen years to the day after the franchise’s first pennant, the Rays are four wins from finishing the job.
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Sources: AP via NBC Sports | Field Level Media
