ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Early in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, Drew Rasmussen and catcher Liam Hicks had a quick chat in the dugout. The Yankees hadn’t managed a hit yet, but Rasmussen had already walked two batters in the first three innings, falling behind in counts. His stuff was filthy, but the worry was inevitable—New York’s lineup, even without Aaron Judge, would eventually find a way to make him pay. Hicks told him to trust his stuff and just pound the strike zone.
What followed was pure, unadulterated dominance. Rasmussen didn’t walk another batter, holding the Yankees to just one hit and two walks over eight scoreless innings in the Rays’ 1-0 victory. It was the first playoff game at Tropicana Field since Hurricane Milton tore the roof off two years ago, and the electric sellout crowd got a show. Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth until Austin Wells lined a ball down the right-field line. Wells tried to stretch the double into a triple but got thrown out at third, ending the threat.
The right-hander set a Rays postseason record with 10 strikeouts and generated a career-high 23 swing-and-misses. This was the second time in less than two weeks he completely shut down the Yankees. “He threw the s— out of it,” Rays starter Nick Martinez said. “He’s the guy we rely on, and he showed why.”
Rasmussen entered the night with a microscopic 1.81 ERA in 11 career starts against New York. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tried to counter by stacking the lineup with eight left-handed hitters, but it made no difference. Rasmussen overwhelmed hitters with his three fastball variants—cutter, four-seam, and sinker—and a changeup he threw more than usual. He used the changeup 27% of the time, and four of his 10 strikeouts came on that pitch, diving away from lefties. “There are days where it’s really working, and days where it isn’t,” Hicks said. “Today was one of those where it was really working. You could see the swing-and-misses, so we just kept calling it.”
On the other side, Yankees starter Gerrit Cole allowed just one run over five innings. The only blemish was a solo homer from Jonathan Aranda, who hooked a changeup over the right-field wall. From there, Rasmussen was on cruise control, retiring 15 straight batters between a walk to Ben Rice in the third and Wells’ double in the eighth. Boone called Wells’ baserunning mistake “obviously not a good decision.”
In the ninth, Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in All-Star closer Bryan Baker to slam the door. Baker had trouble hearing the pitch calls over the deafening crowd, cupping his ear even with his PitchCom on max volume. “That was probably the most electric crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” Baker said. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton on a 96.3 mph fastball, got Ben Rice to look at a changeup, and Cody Bellinger grounded out to secure the 1-0 win and snap the Rays’ seven-game postseason losing streak.
“Yes, tonight was special,” Rasmussen said. “But there’s still a lot of baseball left to play.” The Yankees will send Cam Schlittler to the mound for Game 2, while the Rays will counter with Freddy Peralta.
