ST. PETERSBURG -- It has been a whirlwind of a week for Drew Rasmussen.
He reported for work at Tropicana Field on Monday fully expecting to make his scheduled start Tuesday night against the Cubs. But those plans changed Tuesday morning, when it became clear that the birth of the Rasmussens’ second child, a girl, was drawing near.
Rasmussen’s wife, Stevie, delivered the baby on Tuesday night, and Rasmussen went on the paternity list on Wednesday. He was transferred to MLB’s family medical emergency list on Saturday to spend an extra day with his family before returning to start Sunday’s finale against the Yankees.
Call it dad strength, determination or just a front-line starter doing his job like he always seems to do. But Rasmussen came through with a dominant performance in the Rays’ 5-4 win over the Yankees before a crowd of 20,796 on Sunday afternoon, completing Tampa Bay’s first sweep of New York since April 16-18, 2021.
“He was outstanding,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He was so efficient. Big boost. Obviously, he's had a lot going on this week, and I'm happy that he was able to celebrate that with just an outstanding performance. … He was totally locked in, ready to go.”
Rasmussen didn’t necessarily have to start Sunday’s game. Shane McClanahan was initially lined up to pitch, and Rasmussen could have rejoined the rotation after things had settled down on the family front. But he didn’t want to miss this.
“It just shows how special he is as a person,” McClanahan said of his friend and teammate.
Even without the extraordinary context surrounding the outing, Rasmussen was magnificent. The right-hander retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced and breezed through six innings on only 76 pitches (51 strikes). He allowed just one hit -- a double by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the second inning -- and struck out seven without a walk to earn his first win of the season.
“Really, just being here for us, I mean, it says lots about him,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “Anytime you make a lineup that good look that confused or on their toes that much, you're doing something well.”
Rasmussen hadn’t pitched in a game since April 1, when he worked five innings against the Brewers. He left the Trop on Sunday not long after he left the game, rushing back to be with his family. Pitching coach Kyle Snyder said Rasmussen found time to throw another bullpen session at some point leading up to Sunday’s outing, “just to make sure that he was prepared.”
Cash said he had no concerns about Rasmussen being ready for his outing, even if he acknowledged it was a “big ask” against the Yankees’ star-studded lineup. The 30-year-old has earned the Rays’ complete confidence with his work over the past six seasons, including his All-Star campaign last year.
Rasmussen has regularly been a thorn in the Yankees’ side, as he owns a 1.03 ERA in eight career appearances against them. But his hectic, emotional week only made what he did against them on Sunday -- with impeccable command and flawless execution of everything in his arsenal -- that much more impressive.
“You can tell how much we missed him by today, honestly,” said left fielder Chandler Simpson, who had three hits, two runs, an RBI and a steal to lead the lineup. “He's a phenomenal pitcher. He's an All-Star.
“Needed him big today, and he definitely did what he does.”
The Rays gave Rasmussen some early run support, with Simpson once again in the middle of everything. Simpson hit a leadoff single, went first to third on a hit by Junior Caminero and scored on a one-out groundout by Yandy Díaz. After Cedric Mullins tripled and scored in the second, Walls singled, stole second and scored on another single by Simpson.
After the Yankees made it a one-run game in the seventh, Simpson gave the Rays some breathing room as he tripled and scored on Caminero’s sacrifice fly. Walls tacked on another in the eighth with a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt, and those runs turned out to be critical when Aaron Judge blasted a two-run homer off Mason Englert in the ninth.
Englert settled down enough to record his first Major League save, capping the Rays’ return to Tropicana Field with their first sweep of the Yankees in this ballpark since June 22-24, 2018.
“I think it just shows we've got to keep doing our process, keep trusting that they've put a really good roster together,” Englert said. “Performance in a small sample size can go up and down, but if we continue to execute the controllables over and over, we have huge faith that the results are going to follow.”