Guardians 7, Rays 3: DeLauter, Bailey, then a Two-Run Single

First pitch of the seventh, 436 feet to right-center

October 12, 2026 - St. Petersburg - Drew Rasmussen had already thrown 90 pitches through six. He was still in for the seventh. Patrick Bailey did not make him throw a second one. The first pitch went 436 feet to center, 105.3 mph, the longest homer of Bailey's big-league career, the MLB recap said. The Cleveland Guardians were tied.

An inning later they were ahead. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in American League Championship Series Game 1 and took a 1-0 lead on the road.

Dome. 72 degrees. First pitch 8:08 p.m. Attendance 35,361. The game lasted 2 hours, 57 minutes. Cleveland finished with 14 hits and two homers. Tampa Bay finished with seven hits and one. The Guardians had already come back from 0-2 in the ALDS. This was the next version of that habit.

"I couldn't be more proud of them," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said in the MLB recap. "We got punched early. Our pitching staff, credit to them for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. The offense came alive."

Two runs in the first, then a lot of nothing

Steven Kwan struck out to start it. José Ramírez singled and was thrown out stealing, Nick Fortes to Taylor Walls. Chase DeLauter singled anyway. Jo Adell grounded to third. Cleveland had two hits in the first and no runs.

Foster Griffin did not get that kind of first. Yandy Díaz doubled to left, 114.6 mph. Jonathan Aranda bunted him to third. Junior Caminero chopped a single to center. 1-0. Ryan Vilade struck out. Victor Mesa Jr. singled. Jonny DeLuca singled Caminero home. 2-0. Ben Williamson was hit with the bases still messy. Walls struck out to end it. Four hits, a bunt, a hit batter, two runs. That was the whole Tampa Bay lead for the next five innings.

Griffin lasted four: five hits, two earned, no walks, three strikeouts, 63 pitches. After the first, he got nine of the next 12 outs. DeLuca singled to lead off the fourth and was stranded. Rasmussen, on the other side, looked like the pitcher who had just carried a no-hitter into the eighth against the Yankees in the ALDS. Eight hits. Two runs. Zero walks. Seven strikeouts. 91 pitches. The two runs were both homers.

Cleveland put men on and did not cash them. Nathaniel Lowe and Bailey singled in the second. Petey Halpin lined out. Brayan Rocchio struck out. Travis Bazzana singled in the fourth and stayed there. Rasmussen struck out the side around nothing in the fifth.

Opposite field, then the longest ball Bailey has hit

DeLauter led off the sixth with a fly ball to left-center. 102.3 mph. 381 feet. His first homer of the postseason. 2-1. Adell struck out. Lowe grounded out. Bazzana grounded out. Rasmussen was still in front.

Joey Cantillo walked Vilade and Williamson in the sixth and got a bunt pop, a lineout to Ramírez, and a grounder to Bazzana. The 2-1 held. Then Vogt's club sent Rasmussen back out, and Bailey tied it.

Cam Booser finished the seventh. Hunter Gaddis threw the bottom half. Díaz singled with one out. Aranda flew to Kwan. Caminero struck out. Gaddis got the win (1-0) because the next inning went Cleveland's way.

Tyler Wells started the eighth. Ramírez singled. DeLauter doubled to right, 95 mph, Ramírez to third. Adell grounded to second. Nobody scored. Ian Seymour inherited second and third with one out. Lowe grounded a single up the middle, through to Cedric Mullins in center. Ramírez scored. DeLauter scored. 4-2. Bazzana bounced into a force. Bailey took a called third strike. The lead was new. It was not finished.

"We can do it," Lowe said in the MLB recap, reaching back to the ALDS. "There were some situations where this group definitely could have folded, but we didn't."

Mullins made it 4-3. Cleveland made it 7-3.

Mullins pinch-ran and stayed in. He led off the bottom of the eighth against Erik Sabrowski and homered to right, 98.6 mph, 384 feet. 4-3. Mesa struck out. DeLuca lined to DeLauter. Williamson grounded to Lowe. Hold.

Angel Martínez singled to start the ninth. Rocchio struck out. Kwan lined to Mullins. Ramírez lined to DeLuca in left. Cleveland challenged the tag at the plate. The call was overturned. Martínez scored. 5-3. DeLauter walked. Adell doubled a sharp grounder down the left-field line. Ramírez scored. DeLauter scored. 7-3. Lowe flew out.

Cade Smith threw six pitches in the ninth. Chandler Simpson grounded to Angel Genao. Liam Hicks grounded to Genao. Díaz popped to Genao. Three up, three down.

DeLauter finished 3-for-4 with a homer, a double, a walk, three runs, and an RBI. Ramírez went 3-for-5 with two runs and the challenge-play RBI. Bailey went 2-for-4 with the tying homer. Adell's two-run double was the last swing that mattered. Tampa Bay's 2-0 lasted until the sixth and did not survive the eighth.

Caminero left the collision with DeLuca without a serious injury, the MLB recap said, and told the club through interpreter Kevin Vera that the group would wipe the night away. Kevin Cash, in that same recap, noted it had been a while since Tampa Bay lost. The Rays had not been on the wrong side of a score since Sept. 27.

Tuesday, same building

Game 2 is Tuesday at Tropicana Field. Parker Messick is lined up for Cleveland. Freddy Peralta is lined up for Tampa Bay. Cleveland has the 1-0. Games 3 through 5, if needed, are in Cleveland. The MLB recap put clubs that steal Game 1 on the road in the current 2-3-2 format at 41-32 historically. That is a note, not a ticket.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Cleveland at 14 team fantasy points on a 7-3. DeLauter had 12 hitting FP. Bailey had 5. Ramírez and Lowe had 4 each. Rasmussen still sat first among pitchers on the night at 11, because six innings, seven strikeouts, and a quality start score even when two balls leave the yard. Griffin had 6. Gaddis had 5. Tampa Bay sat at -2. Fantasy points measure the night. Share price is what the market pays. They move together, but they are not the same number. See dynamic pricing.

Track the Guardians and Rays on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; ESPN recap; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*