Drew Rasmussen Out-Duels Fried. Rays Clinch 1st. Tampa 6 NY 1

September 23, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Drew Rasmussen gets Cody Bellinger to fly out to end the 6th and send his no hitter into the 7th, with NY down 1-0.

Drew Rasmussen pitched a no-hitter into the 7th inning — out-dueling Max Fried in a 1-0 game — until Fried tired and Tampa scored 3 runs in the top of the 7th en route to a 6-1 win on a Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium — a beautiful night with temps in the 60’s. It was the 2nd game of a day-night doubleheader where Carlos Rodon out-dueled Nick Martinez in the 1st game, 2-0.

With the win Tampa clinched 1st place in the AL East, with 5 games to play.

Heliot Ramos finally broke up the Rasmussen no-hitter with a leadoff double in the 7th — NY down 4-0 at the time. Ramos came around to score on a George Lombard Jr. RBI single with 2 outs.

Tampa put the game away with 2 runs off Ryan Yarbrough in the top of the 9th.

“Credit to them, they beat us today — Rasmussen was great,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “And they’ve put together a fantastic regular season to earn that. That’s theirs that they earned; hopefully we get another crack at them in the next couple of weeks but they’ve certainly earned the division.”

NY falls to 90-67, 6 back of Tampa (96-61)  and 6 ahead of the Red Sox who lost their 3rd in a row. NY has clinched the 2nd-best record in the American League and will get the home-field advantage in the Wild Card series — which means being the home team for all 3 games, if 3 are necessary.

1. Rasmussen No-Hitter Into the 7th

Drew Rasmussen, the 31-year-old 6’1 righthanded Ace of the Rays, came in with a 15-5 2.72 record and was on his game, improving to 16-5 2.67.

He struck out the first 3 batters of the game — showing a 97-MPH four-seam fastball, 94-MPH sinker, 88-MPH cutter, and 86-MPH changeup — and was on his way.

Rasmussen struck out 11 on the night, with 3 walks — including a 1-out walk to Austin Wells in the 3rd, and a leadoff walk to Cody Bellinger in the 4th.

He retired everyone else and had the no hitter going through 6 innings in a 1-0 game.

“I thought he was really sharp tonite,” said Boone about Rasmussen. “Whether it was the 3-headed monster with the heater — the sinker, the four-seam and the cutter — were all sharp both sides of the plate. He flashed his changeup to have some secondary stuff. Occasional breaking ball but the changeup was a pretty good pitch for him. He had a little bit of everything going — North and South, East and West; he beat us tonite obviously.”

2. Fried Great — Tires in 7th

Meanwhile Max Fried was great for the Yankees — dueling Rasmussen in a 1-0 game through 6 innings. Fried struck out 4 and only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks through the first 6 innings — and 1 run allowed.

The run came in the 3rd when Taylor Walls reached on a leadoff infield single, Cedric Mullins worked a walk, Yandy Diaz flied out to center to advance both runners, and Junior Caminero grounded out for a run.

But with the score 1-0 Tampa in the top of the 7th, Fried tired, allowing consecutive singles to start the inning by Chandler Simpson and Williamson.

Fried got catcher Nick Fortes to fly out to center, advancing Simpson to 3rd on a sac fly. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd, Taylor Walls bunted for a safety squeeze — Fried fielding the ball and Luis Garcia Jr. also coming in to field it as well, leaving Jazz Chisholm Jr. to cover 1st — but he didn’t and so there was nobody at 1st for Fried to throw to. It went for an RBI single.

“That’s a safety situation; we know it’s coming more often than not,” said Boone afterwards. “Jazz started to go then saw it go back to the pitcher and thought Garcia was going to get back, which he’s not — he (Jazz) just has to go every time. Obviously they executed so we’re not going to get an out at the plate, but we got to get an out on the play.”

Fried then struck out Cedric Mullins which should have been the 3rd out of the inning, had Garcia stayed at 1st.

The Yanks brought in righty John Schreiber to pitch to righty Yandy Diaz. And Diaz singled to center for 2 runs and a 4-0 Rays lead. Earlier in the season Fernando Cruz would have been the righty brought in but he is on the IL.

3. Ramos Breaks Up No Hitter in 7th; Lombard Drives Him In

Heliot Ramos led off the bottom of the 7th with a double to break up Drew Rasmussen’s no hitter.

Luis Garcia Jr. grounded out and Spencer Jones struck out — but Jazz Chisholm Jr. just missed a 2-run HR — hitting a drive just foul to right before walking to put runners on 1st and 2nd

That sent Rasmussen to the showers, the Rays bringing in 6’2 righty Kevin Kelly — and George Lombard Jr. ripped a clutch RBI single to right for a 4-1 game.

4. Yarbrough Coughs Up 2 Runs in 9th

Cam Boozer — a 6’3 lefty with a 2.03 ERA — pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th for Tampa.

The game got away from the Yanks in the top of the 9th — Ryan Yarbrough allowing consecutive 1-out singles to Taylor Walls and Cedric Mullins, and Michael Fulmer coming in and allowing a 2-RBI single to Yandy Diaz for a 6-1 game.

Tampa Ace Reliever Bryan Baker — a 6’6 righthander with 40 saves and a 1.47 ERA — pitched a shutout 9th for Tampa — Spencer Jones working a 2 out walk and Jazz Chisholm following with a single — but George Lombard Jr. grounding out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401817034

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