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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Cleveland Guardians used small ball, the longball and played solid all-around baseball to keep winning in the postseason.
Nathaniel Lowe snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Guardians rallied past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.
After losing the first two games at home to the Chicago White Sox in their AL Division Series, Cleveland has won four straight in the postseason for the first time since winning their first six playoff games in 2016 on the way to a World Series berth.
“It feels good to see some balls fall, to see some guys get on the barrel, to see some guys have some great at-bats, because the first two games of the White Sox series, we got beat. We did,” Lowe said. “We had to go get our backs against the wall and do something crazy, and this group did. It’s nice to feel some momentum coming here and to take Game 1.”
Jose Ramírez had three hits and DeLauter was a triple shy of the cycle as the Guardians banged out 14 hits against a Tampa Bay staff that allowed just 12 in its entire Division Series against the New York Yankees.
Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in their three-game sweep of the Yankees.