Guardians Break Through Late, Beat Rays 7-3 in ALCS Game 1
Guardians Break Through Late, Beat Rays 7-3 in ALCS Game 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — October 13, 2026 — The Cleveland Guardians scored all seven of their runs over the final four innings to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 on Monday at Tropicana Field, taking a 1-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Nathaniel Lowe delivered the decisive blow with a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning. Jose Ramirez went 3-for-5 and drove in a run in the ninth — his fourth consecutive playoff game with an RBI, tying a franchise postseason record.
Cleveland's power arrived earlier too: rookie Chase DeLauter homered in the sixth and Patrick Bailey followed with a homer of his own in the seventh. The Rays, who had been riding high, suffered their first loss since September 27.
The Guardians' late-game offense has become a postseason calling card, and Monday was no exception — wearing down Tampa Bay's pitching staff inning by inning until the dam broke.
Game 2 is Tuesday, October 13, in St. Petersburg, where the Rays will look to even the series before it moves on.
The late-inning formula is becoming Cleveland's identity. All seven runs arriving over the final four innings is not an accident but a pattern — the Guardians have made a postseason habit of grinding opposing pitching staffs into submission, taking professional at-bats deeper into games until something breaks. Monday it broke in the eighth, with Lowe's two-run single delivering the knockout.
Jose Ramirez's record-tying RBI streak underscores why the Guardians are so dangerous: their best player is producing in every game. Four straight playoff games with a run batted in, matching a franchise postseason mark, gives Cleveland a heartbeat at the top of the order that Tampa Bay's staff has yet to solve.
For the Rays, the concern is the pitching staff they built their October hopes on. Losing for the first time since late September is no crisis, but the way it happened — a lead slipping away inning by inning as Cleveland's hitters dug in — will be the film room's main feature. Tampa Bay's bullpen needs to reset quickly; with Game 2 arriving on Tuesday, there is no breathing room in a series that is about to move cities.
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