Given the history between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees, it had to end like this.
Mike Brosseau hit a solo home run off Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and gave the Rays a 2-1 win over the Yankees in the fifth and deciding game of the American League Division Series.
Brosseau, who had a 101 MPH fastball thrown at his head by Chapman in a regular season game September 1, ended up working a ten-pitch at-bat against Chapman Friday, just pulling a slider foul into the upper deck, and then fouling off a few more fastballs before getting a 100 MPH fastball on the inner half of the plate and sending it into the first row in left for his first home run of the postseason.
Tyler Glasnow, who started Friday on just two days rest, worked the first 2 1/3 innings, allowing just a pair of walks and striking out two. Nick Anderson got Tampa Bay out of the third inning by getting DJ LeMahieu to bounce into a double play, But Aaron Judge led off the fourth with a blast that just got into the short porch in right for his second home run of the postseason.
Gerrit Cole, pitching on three days rest, didn't allow a hit until the fifth when Austin Meadows lifted a pitch to right, and as Judge went to leap to try and make the catch, he hit the overhang with his head and the ball landed beyond the scoreboard for his second home run of the series.
Pete Fairbanks worked two scoreless innings after Meadows tied the game, and Diego Castillo earned the win with two hitless innings to end the game.
Tampa Bay advances to the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, which will begin Sunday evening in San Diego. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch.
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