ST. PETERSBURG -- Before Jonathan Aranda stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning Saturday night, he felt the crowd inside Tropicana Field.
Blue rally towels waved throughout the stands. Cowbells rang. But once Aranda swung at the fifth pitch he saw from Gerrit Cole in his second at-bat of the night, he didn't hear much of anything.
“I was simply focused on the home run and the emotions I felt in the moment,” Aranda said in Spanish.
“Jonny came up in a big way -- got a changeup [that] looked to be kind of middle-middle from Gerrit Cole, who was tremendous tonight, as usual. We were fortunate to get that run,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Our crowd … that's the best crowd noise I've ever witnessed in any ballpark. It was just -- the atmosphere that was created, the hype before the game.”
Aranda had just delivered his first career postseason hit, and it turned out to be the only run the Rays needed in their 1-0 victory over the Yankees in Game 1 of the ALDS.
With the game still scoreless in the third, Aranda turned on an 85.2 mph changeup from Cole and sent it a Statcast-projected 417 feet to right-center field for a solo homer.
“It was a big hit that was obviously very important for today’s victory,” Aranda said. “I took it like another game. I am very happy with that swing. I was able to get rid of all the nervous feelings I had.”
The changeup was thrown to nearly the same spot of the pitch Richie Palacios hit for a double an inning earlier, but Aranda wasn’t especially looking for it. He entered Saturday having gone 2-for-9 with four strikeouts against Cole in his career.
“It was simply a reaction [to the pitch],” said Aranda, who slashed .274/.358/.434 with a .792 OPS and 22 homers during the regular season. “I was looking for the fastball, I know that I do well against the high fastball. It was just something that I had to see at the moment.”
It was all the offense Tampa Bay would need on a night dominated by pitching.
And fittingly, Aranda was also involved in the final out.
When Cody Bellinger grounded to first base with two outs in the ninth, Aranda waved off Bryan Baker and handled the ball himself to secure the victory. After giving Baker a low five, Aranda returned to the dirt near first base, marked it with his fingers and pointed toward the sky.
Aranda’s homer also put him in rare postseason company. There have been 17 postseason games that ended 1-0 with the only run coming on a solo homer, the most recent before Saturday off the bat of Jeremy Peña in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS.
But Aranda’s swing was only half of what made the night memorable.
From his spot at first base, he had a front-row seat to Drew Rasmussen’s dominant outing. Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Aranda said there was an added level of intensity in the Rays' dugout as everyone became increasingly aware of what was unfolding, even though no one could talk about it.
“He was the definition of Rasmussen," Aranda said. “He has been doing it all year. It is impressive the job that he has done for us the whole year. He is our Cy Young.”
There was, however, one important moment Rasmussen didn't get to see: Aranda’s homer.
“I was in the bathroom, so I missed it,” Rasmussen said. “It would have been a really cool time to be in the dugout. But, no, I had to take care of my own business. But, I mean, he's done it all year for us. It's big swings in big moments constantly. What a special night for him. What a special moment. It was so much fun. It was so much fun to see.”