Rays beat Yankees 1-0 as Rasmussen no-hit bid ends in 8th

Tampa Bay defeated New York 1-0 in Game 1 of the AL Division Series at Tropicana Field on Saturday night. Drew Rasmussen held the Yankees hitless until Austin Wells doubled with two outs in the eighth inning. Wells was thrown out attempting a triple, ending the inning.

Jonathan Aranda provided the only run with a solo home run off Gerrit Cole in the fifth inning. It was Aranda's first career postseason hit. Cole allowed one run and five hits over five innings in his first playoff start since Tommy John surgery in March 2025.

“Wells ran through the stop sign of third base coach Luis Rojas, who raised both arms before Wells rounded second.”

Rasmussen struck out 10 and walked two over eight innings, throwing 69 of 101 pitches for strikes. He retired 15 consecutive batters before Wells' double. Bryan Baker pitched a perfect ninth for the save, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and freezing Ben Rice on a called third strike.

The Yankees played without three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, who has been sidelined since September 16 with a calf injury. New York had scored 18 runs in a two-game Wild Card Series sweep of Boston entering the game.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for Monday night at Tropicana Field.