Rays beat Yankees 4-3 for 3-game Division Series sweep behind Mesa homer, fan interference call

NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Mesa Jr. hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Wednesday night with the help of a fan interference call for a three-game sweep of their AL Division Series.

Ryan Vilade also homered for the Rays, who reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020 and host the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians in the opener on Monday.

After Mesa's homer gave the Rays a 4-2 lead, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a two-run shot against Griffin Jax with two outs in the bottom half as a fan reached over the left-field wall and caught the ball over the glove of a leaping Mesa.

A video review determined the ball would not have been over the wall and would not have been caught by Mesa. Volpe was awarded an RBI double and George Lombard Jr. was allowed to score from first. Jax recovered to strike out Spencer Jones.

Baseball's adaptation of video technology was key to the inning.

Lombard reached with a one-out walk when a 3-1 pitch called a strike by plate umpire Dan Bellino was ruled inside on an ABS challenge. Austin Wells then walked on full-count changeup but an ABS challenge by Rays catcher Liam Hicks ruled the pitch caught the inside corner for a strikeout, bringing up Volpe.

Quite a change from 1996, when umpires did not have technology to assist and Derek Jeter's homer for the Yankees helped turn around the ALCS opener despite Jeffrey Meier reaching over the right-field wall where Baltimore's Tony Tarasco was set to catch the ball. MLB began using video for home run calls in 2008 and allowed challenges to ball/strike decisions starting this year.

Ian Seymour pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Kevin Kelly struck out pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton to strand a runner in the eighth and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth for his third save of the series.

Seeking its first World Series title, Tampa Bay celebrated on the field of the big-spending Yankees for the second time in two weeks after clinching the AL East on Sept. 22. New York opened the season with MLB's third-highest payroll at $303 million while the Rays were 26th at $91 million.

Swept in a best-of-five postseason matchup for the first time since the 1980 ALCS against Kansas City, the Yankees ended their 17th straight season without a World Series crown. That equaled their longest drought since winning their first championship in 1923, a gap between titles in 1978 and '96.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge missed the postseason after straining a calf on Sept. 16. The three-time AL MVP played just seven games after May 31 because of a fractured rib and the leg injury, an absence the team couldn't overcome.

After sweeping Boston in the Wild Card Series, New York never led against the Rays and has not advanced past a higher-seeded team in the postseason since 2020.

Jonathan Aranda put the Rays ahead with an RBI single in the third and Ben Rice tied the score against Nick Martinez with a single in the bottom half, his eighth RBI of the postseason.

Vilade, a 27-year-old getting extensive big league playing time this year with his sixth major league organization, hit an opposite-field, 340-foot drive into the right-field short porch in the fourth. The ball, just over the glove of a jumping Jones, would not have been out of any other big league ballpark.

Volpe, starting at second base in place of Jazz Chisholm Jr., hit a 96.6 mph liner off Martinez’s back with two outs in the fourth for an infield single, and Seymour relieved. Jones’ opposite-field doubled landed beyond Mesa, driving in Volpe.

Junior Caminero singled in the sixth and Mesa sent a sweeper deep into the right-field seats to chase Fried.

Tampa Bay gets four days off and will have played just three games in 14 days before starting the ALCS.

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