ST. PETERSBURG -- Sitting behind a table inside a mostly quiet Tropicana Field on Friday afternoon, Rays ace Drew Rasmussen tried to make it sound simple. The complex science and mysterious art that is pitching in the Major Leagues, he said, isn’t that complicated.
“I'm a pretty big believer that it comes down to two things,” Rasmussen said. “Preparation and execution.”
Preparation is never a concern with Rasmussen, dubbed “the standard” for all Rays pitchers by pitching coach Kyle Snyder. Execution clearly wasn’t an issue on a historic Saturday night at Tropicana Field, either.
Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and put together a complete masterpiece on the mound in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, blanking the Yankees in the Rays’ 1-0 win before a rowdy, sold-out home crowd of 40,542.
“Yeah, this place is crazy," said Rasmussen. "It’s one of my favorites when it’s packed out and I haven’t gotten to see it like this a whole lot. So, it’s really special to be here in an environment like this.”
Rasmussen struck out 10, walked only two and retired 15 straight batters before Austin Wells broke up his no-hit bid with a double down the right-field line with two outs in the eighth inning … only to be thrown out at third base on a perfect relay from Victor Mesa Jr. to shortstop Taylor Walls.
“In all honesty, my heartbeat was about a thousand beats per minute, so I just let [catcher] Liam [Hicks] call the game and do my best to execute the pitches he called,” said Rasmussen.
The Rays’ first playoff victory since Game 1 of the 2021 ALDS gave them a significant advantage in this series. In all best-of-five postseason series, teams taking a 1-0 lead have gone on to win the series 116 of 160 times (73%). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams taking a 1-0 lead at home have gone on to win 42 of 56 times (75%).
Hours before Rasmussen’s final regular-season start at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 22, manager Kevin Cash compared the 31-year-old right-hander’s incredible work ethic and preparation to that of Roy Halladay, the Hall of Famer whom Cash caught with the Blue Jays in the early 2000s and the author of the most recent individual no-hitter in postseason history.
Cash walked out of the visiting dugout that day wondering if he had set too high a bar for Rasmussen, only to see him carry a no-hitter into the seventh inning and strike out 11 in a victory over the Yankees that clinched the AL East title for Tampa Bay.
He was even more masterful, more “Doc”-like, in the Rays’ postseason opener.
Rasmussen racked up a career-high 23 swinging strikes, stifling the Yankees with a mix of cutters, changeups, four-seam fastballs and two-seamers. He got the only run support he needed in the third inning, when Jonathan Aranda launched a solo shot to right-center field off Gerrit Cole.
"I think the definition of ace is Drew Rasmussen," said Aranda. "He did a great job on the mound, and he’s done that for us the entire year. So, I’m really happy for him.”
It should perhaps come as no surprise that Rasmussen was at his best against the Yankees. He always seems to be. In 10 career regular-season starts against New York, Rasmussen is 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA, and he permitted two runs or fewer in nine of those 10 outings.
After Rasmussen gave up a hit, albeit one that was immediately negated by the night’s defensive highlight, All-Star closer Bryan Baker slammed the door shut in the ninth.