Rasmussen leads Rays past Yankees to clinch AL East and top playoff seed

Tampa Bay clinched the American League East and the top seed in the AL playoffs by beating the New York Yankees 6-1 in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. Yahoo Sports reported that the victory secured home-field advantage throughout the league's playoffs, with Drew Rasmussen leading the Rays on the mound.

Watch the highlights:

Rasmussen struck out the first three batters he faced and finished with 11 strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. According to Yahoo Sports, seven of those strikeouts came on his cutter. He allowed one hit, three walks and one earned run, giving Tampa Bay a commanding pitching performance on the night it settled the division race.

Heliot Ramos ended the no-hit bid with a double to begin the seventh inning. Rasmussen recorded two more outs before walking Jazz Chisholm Jr., and manager Kevin Cash removed him after a career-high 114 pitches. Yahoo Sports reported that Ramos subsequently scored, but New York could not turn its breakthrough into a sustained comeback against Tampa Bay.

The Rays' decisive offensive burst came in the seventh, when they scored three times to extend their lead to 4-0. ESPN's report, with Associated Press contributions, detailed a Taylor Walls bunt single and Yandy Diaz's two-run single in that inning. Diaz drove in two more runs with another single in the ninth, accounting for four of Tampa Bay's six runs.

New York had delayed the celebration by winning the opener 2-0. Carlos Rodon surrendered three hits across eight innings in that game, according to ESPN. The split left Tampa Bay at 96-61 and the Yankees at 90-67 immediately after the doubleheader, a six-game gap with five games remaining. The Rays had held the division lead since June 27.

This was Tampa Bay's fifth AL East championship and its first since the 100-win season of 2021. ESPN also listed division titles in 2020, 2010 and 2008. The clincher added another postseason milestone for a franchise that began play in 1998, with the Rays now assured of playing as the American League's highest seed.