CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen allowed one run in seven innings and Tampa Bay's lineup jumped on Cleveland starter Parker Messick before the Guardians could settle in, as the Rays beat the Guardians 3-1 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday night. The win pushed Tampa Bay to a 3-2 series lead and put Cleveland one loss from the end of its season, with Game 6 set for Monday night at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay did its damage early, scoring in each of the first three innings against Messick, who lasted only two innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. Yandy Diaz led a 12-hit Rays attack by going 3-for-5, Chandler Simpson added two hits and a run from the leadoff spot, and Jonathan Aranda and Liam Hicks each drove in a run. Rasmussen, working on the other side, scattered four hits over seven innings, struck out six and walked one; Cleveland's only run came in the sixth on a Chase DeLauter RBI single. Relievers Cam Booser, Tyler Wells and Bryan Baker closed out the final two innings without allowing a run. Cleveland's bats managed only four hits in front of 36,303 fans at Progressive Field, and MVP candidate Jose Ramirez went 1-for-4 without an extra-base hit, unable to generate the kind of rally that has carried the Guardians through much of October.
A series that keeps swinging
Neither team has controlled this ALCS for long. Cleveland won Game 1 at Tropicana Field 7-3 behind home runs from DeLauter and Patrick Bailey, and Tampa Bay answered to even the series in Game 2. When the matchup shifted to Progressive Field, the Guardians took Game 3, 3-2, to move ahead 2-1 — but the Rays have now won two straight on Cleveland's own field to seize control. It is a similar pattern to how Tampa Bay has navigated the whole postseason: after an opening-game home loss to open the ALCS, the Rays steadied behind their rotation, having already swept the Yankees in the division series. Cleveland reached this series by erasing its own 0-2 deficit against the White Sox in the ALDS, so a response on the road is not out of character for Stephen Vogt's club. That comeback, which required three straight wins after Cleveland fell behind two games to none in the best-of-five series, left the Guardians' pitching staff with little margin for the kind of taxing middle innings Messick gave them on Sunday.
Sunday's outing extended a dominant year for Rasmussen against this particular opponent. He has not lost to Cleveland in 2026, including a one-hit, seven-inning start during a regular-season sweep of the Guardians in late July. Kevin Cash's decision to let him work into the seventh on Sunday, with the bullpen fresh after an off day, paid off as Rasmussen needed only 95 pitches to get through seven.
What's next
The series returns to Tropicana Field for Game 6 on Monday night, with Cleveland needing to win twice in two days to force a decisive Game 7 on Tuesday. The Guardians will lean on a bullpen that has already absorbed a heavy workload this October, while the Rays can turn to a deeper, more rested staff with a chance to close it out at home. Waiting on the other side of the bracket are the Milwaukee Brewers, who completed a sweep of the Dodgers last week to reach their first World Series since 1982 and have been waiting nearly a week for an opponent. Whichever AL team survives the next two games will meet a Milwaukee club that is fully rested and has not lost since the NLCS began.
For now, the moment belongs to Tampa Bay. One more win, at home, and the Rays are back in the World Series for the first time since 2020. One more loss, and Cleveland's season — built on a historic comeback just to get this far — ends in St. Petersburg.
