The top of the ninth in ALCS Game 1 delivered a jolt no one in the Tampa Bay dugout wanted.
With the Rays down 4-3, nobody out, and a runner on second, Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio lifted a foul pop fly toward third base. Junior Caminero and Johnny DeLuca both sprinted after it, then ran into each other in a frightening collision. No play was made, per Talkin Baseball, and DeLuca went down immediately.
For a brief moment, both players stayed on the ground before getting themselves together and remaining in the game. By then, though, the moment had already turned ugly, and the Rays were running out of answers.
Cleveland pulled away from there and won 7-3. Cedric Mullins had given Tampa Bay a lift with an eighth-inning home run, but it didn’t hold up, and the Guardians tacked on three more runs in the ninth to finish it off.
Caminero finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. DeLuca was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Both have been with the Rays since 2023.
Tampa Bay entered the series after sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALDS, while Cleveland advanced by coming back from a 2-0 deficit against the Chicago White Sox.
The Rays are chasing their first World Series trip since 2020, when they lost to the high-powered Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. The Guardians are trying to get back to the Fall Classic for the first time since 2016, when they fell to the Chicago Cubs in a seven-game series that’s still remembered vividly.
Game 2 is set for Tuesday at 7:00 pm CST/8:00 pm EST at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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