{"id":432916,"date":"2026-10-20T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432916\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:20:00","slug":"rays-headed-to-third-world-series-after-winning-alcs-twin-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432916\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays headed to third World Series after winning ALCS \u2013 Twin Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Freddy Peralta threw 5 1\/3 gritty innings, Junior Caminero and Yandy D\u00edaz each hit a two-run homer and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night to advance to the World Series for the third time in the franchise\u2019s 29 seasons.<\/p>\n

\"RichieRichie Palacios of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts after hitting a two-RBI double during the second inning against the Cleveland Guardians in Monday’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series in St Petersburg, Fla. (Photo by Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the first matchup in which both teams are seeking their first World Series title since 1980, when the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals.<\/p>\n

Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

The loss extended Cleveland\u2019s World Series championship drought to 78 years.<\/p>\n

On the 18-year anniversary of their first AL pennant in 2008, the Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning on Richie Palacios\u2019 two-run double and clinched it with closer Bryan Baker on the mound.<\/p>\n

The Guardians wouldn\u2019t give up and had the go-ahead run at first base in the eighth when Kevin Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio to leave the bases loaded after two runs scored.<\/p>\n

\"YandyYandy D\u00edaz #2 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a two run home run during the eighth inning of Monday’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series in St Petersburg, Fla. (Photo by Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Peralta allowed one run and five hits to earn his second win in the ALCS in his third appearance. He threw six scoreless innings to win Game 2 and got two outs in relief in Game 4.<\/p>\n

A sellout crowd of 40,230 fans waved yellow-and-blue rally towels, rang cowbells and chanted \u201cLet\u2019s go Rays!\u201d throughout the night at Tropicana Field, which needed major renovations after Hurricane Milton shredded the roof two years ago and caused extensive damage throughout the stadium.<\/p>\n

The Rays played their 2025 home games across the bay in Tampa at the New York Yankees\u2019 spring training complex, got new ownership before this season and secured a new stadium deal to bear ready in 2029 near the NFL\u2019s Buccaneers. They returned to the Trop to win 55 games in the regular season. Only Milwaukee had that many home wins this year.<\/p>\n

After sweeping the Yankees in the Division Series, the Rays fell behind the Guardians 0-1 and 1-2 in this series before taking three straight games.<\/p>\n

\"CamCam Booser of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts after getting the final out of the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians in Monday’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series in St Petersburg, Fla. (Photo by Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Caminero gave Tampa Bay a cushion with his first career postseason homer in the seventh inning. The two-time All-Star sent a drive off the left-field foul pole to give the Rays a 5-1 lead, becoming the first player to go deep on a splitter by All-Star closer Cade Smith.<\/p>\n

Caminero turned around before reaching first base, looked toward his dugout and pounded his chest with both arms, cupped his ear rounding second to hear more cheers, stopped before reaching the plate, pointed into the stands and crossed his arms before crossing home.<\/p>\n

Caminero hit 42 homers in the regular season but needed 33 at-bats to get his first in October.<\/p>\n

The Guardians answered against Tyler Wells and Ian Seymour by loading the bases on two singles and a walk with two outs. Seymour walked Patrick Bailey to force in one run and hit Angel Mart\u00ednez with a pitch to force in another. Kelly entered and fanned Rocchio on three changeups.<\/p>\n

\"ChaseChase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates a run with teammate Travis Bazzana during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in Monday’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Photo by Mike Stobe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz, who guaranteed a Game 6 victory through an interpreter on Sunday, gave the Rays a four-run lead with a two-run shot off Hunter Gaddis in the bottom of the eighth.<\/p>\n

Caminero led off Tampa Bay\u2019s second with single off opener Shawn Armstrong, who took the loss in his second start in three games. Left-hander Tim Herrin replaced Armstrong. Chandler Simpson reached on a fielder\u2019s choice and stole second before Victor Mesa Jr. walked. Simpson advanced to third on Jonny DeLuca\u2019s flyout to center. After Mesa stole second, Palacios looped a double to right-center for a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Armstrong, who was the opener in Game 4, faced the first four batters, becoming the first pitcher in postseason history to start a game after pitching both of the previous two days.<\/p>\n

DeLuca\u2019s sacrifice fly off Joey Cantillo made it 3-0 in the third but the Rays missed an opportunity to break it open with more runs after they loaded the bases with no outs.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Lowe\u2019s RBI single in the sixth drove in Cleveland\u2019s first run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Freddy Peralta threw 5 1\/3 gritty innings, Junior Caminero and Yandy D\u00edaz each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3817,110,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-432916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}