Yankees get only one hit in ALDS Game 1 loss to Rays, have no answer for starter Drew Rasmussen

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The last time the Yankees saw the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen, the righthander had a no-hitter going with one out in the seventh on Sept. 22 at the Stadium.

He did even better Saturday night.

Rasmussen held the Yankees hitless for 7 2⁄3 innings and outdueled Gerrit Cole as the Rays beat the Yankees, 1-0, in Game 1 of their American League Division Series in front of a roaring, towel-waving sellout crowd of 40,542 at Tropicana Field.

Austin Wells picked up the Yankees’ only hit of the game with a two-out double down the rightfield line in the eighth, but when he tried to stretch it into a triple, the relay from Victor Mesa Jr. to Taylor Walls to Junior Caminero was in plenty of time and nailed him to end the inning.

Rasmussen, who entered the night 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA and 0.86 WHIP against the Yankees in 11 career games (10 starts), allowed few hard-hit balls throughout. “He cut us up again,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Rasmussen walked two, struck out 10 and combined with Bryan Baker to pitch to only two batters more than the minimum, thanks to Wells’ decision to try for third.

“Obviously,” Boone said, “not a good decision there.”

Ryan McMahon was scheduled to hit next, and Giancarlo Stanton wound up pinch hitting for McMahon to begin the ninth.

Said Wells: “I think you have to take risks, but in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong. I can’t tell you if I would go again because the situation would be different, but obviously took the risk, didn’t work out. But I [thought] I needed to make something happen there.”

Focusing solely on Wells’ baserunning mistake, however, would miss the primary reason for the loss.

That would be Rasmussen, who was responsible for the Yankees being held hitless through seven innings in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history, a span of 445 games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became the seventh pitcher in the modern era (dating to 1900) to carry a no-hit bid through 7 2⁄3 innings of a postseason game.

“It’s a bit of a tough one,” said Cole, who allowed Jonathan Aranda’s homer in the third, four other hits and a walk in his five innings. “Rasmussen had a historic night, so sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

In the ninth, Baker — who went 41-for-44 in saves this season and posted a 1.44 ERA — struck out Stanton (getting his first at-bat of the postseason) and Ben Rice

and got Cody Bellinger to ground to first to end it.

After walking Rice with two outs in the third, Rasmussen retired 15 straight before Wells’ hit.

“He does what good pitchers in this game do,” said Rice, who hit .356 with seven homers and a 1.320 OPS in 13 games against the Rays this season and hit .456 with five homers and 1.167 OPS in seven games at Tropicana Field. “Just mixes, has good command, velocity and deception.”

Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played on Monday night at Tropicana Field. Yankees ace Cam Schlittler will face Freddy Peralta, a disaster with the Mets this season before rebounding with Tampa Bay.

Rasmussen lost his no-hitter against the Yankees on Sept. 22 when Heliot Ramos doubled with one out in the seventh before scoring on George Lombard Jr.’s single off Kevin Kelly. Rasmussen, who was charged with that run, allowed only that hit and three walks and struck out 11. His totals in the two starts: 14 2⁄3 innings, one run, two hits, five walks, 21 strikeouts.

Cole, who was 4-3 with a 4.46 ERA in his final seven starts of the regular season and allowed 11 homers in 40 1⁄3 innings in that stretch, grinded his way through an 82-pitch outing Saturday.

“We know they’re a tough opponent and, look, they’re going to land some blows,” he said. “You’ve got to take blows in the postseason and you’ve got to dish them out, too. So this is one of those times where we’ve got to take it in stride.”

The most significant blow came with one out in the third when Aranda torpedoed Cole’s 2-and-2 changeup 417 feet to right-center.

“Down and away,” Cole said of where he wanted the pitch. “It got to the edge but it didn’t get down enough. It’s a pretty steep price to pay, but he crushed it. That’s just the way it goes.”

After drawing a walk with two outs in the second, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had 41 steals this season, stole second. But Trent Grisham struck out looking at a changeup, an especially devastating pitch for Rasmussen on Saturday night.

“I feel like he just hit all his spots today. He was on,” Chisholm said.

And lined up to pitch again in this series, likely in Game 4 at the Stadium, assuming that game is necessary.

“The reality is, you want to go deep in the playoffs, you’ve got to beat probably a great pitcher at some point,” Boone said. “So we’ve got to find a way. Hopefully we’re in a position to get another crack at him and execute a little better.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.