Guardians rally past Rays 7-3 in ALCS opener

The Cleveland Guardians rallied from an early two-run deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night at Tropicana Field, taking the opener of the best-of-seven series. Tampa Bay scored twice in the first inning and held the lead until Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter hit a solo home run to open the sixth. Patrick Bailey tied the game with another solo homer to lead off the seventh, ending the night for Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. Cleveland moved in front in the eighth. José Ramírez reached on an infield single and DeLauter doubled, setting up Nathaniel Lowe’s two-run single against reliever Ian Seymour. The Rays answered with Cedric Mullins’ solo homer in the bottom half, making it 4-3. Ramírez added an RBI single in the ninth, and Jo Adell followed with a two-run double to complete the scoring. The hit came after Ramírez advanced toward third with two outs; third baseman Junior Caminero moved to cover the base, leaving room for Adell’s ground ball to reach left field. Cleveland had 14 hits, including three each from Ramírez and DeLauter.