Rays beat Guardians to set up World Series between first-time title hopefuls

The Tampa Bay Rays secured a place in the World Series with a 7-3 home victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday, completing a 4-2 American League Championship Series win. According to Yahoo Sports, the result sets up a meeting with the Milwaukee Brewers in which one franchise will claim its first World Series championship.

Watch the highlights:

Freddy Peralta earned ALCS Most Valuable Player honours after allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings in the clincher. Yahoo Sports reported that he finished with five hits allowed, three walks and three strikeouts across 84 pitches. His contribution followed six scoreless innings in Game 2 and a brief relief appearance in Game 4.

Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz supplied two-run home runs at different stages of the closing innings. Caminero's seventh-inning drive struck the left-field foul pole and expanded Tampa Bay's advantage to 5-1. Díaz then homered in the eighth after Cleveland had reduced the deficit to two runs, restoring a four-run cushion before the final inning.

Field Level Media reported that Richie Palacios had put the Rays ahead with a two-run double in the second inning. Jonny DeLuca added a sacrifice fly in the third to make it 3-0. Nathaniel Lowe's run-scoring single in the sixth brought Cleveland onto the scoreboard before Caminero's home run widened the gap again.

Cleveland's eighth-inning response came through a bases-loaded walk and a hit batter, with Ian Seymour on the mound. Kevin Kelly replaced him and struck out Brayan Rocchio to leave the bases loaded and protect the lead. After Díaz's homer, Bryan Baker retired all three batters he faced in the ninth to complete the victory.

The result was Tampa Bay's third consecutive win and its third American League pennant, Field Level Media reported. The Rays lost their previous World Series appearances to Philadelphia in five games in 2008 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in six in 2020. Game 1 against Milwaukee is scheduled for Friday in Milwaukee, giving Tampa Bay another opportunity to secure the championship that eluded those earlier teams.