Rays sweep, Guardians stay alive

MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES ROUNDUP; LATE WEDNESDAY

Tampa Bay knocks out Yankees behind Mesa homer, fan interference call

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Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. makes an attempt on a ball interfered with by fans that umpires reviewed and ruled a run-scoring double by New York Yankees infielder Anthony Volpe during the sixth inning in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday in New York. YUKI IWAMURA — ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Associated Press

Victor Mesa Jr. didn’t bother to watch his home run land in Yankee Stadium’s right-field seats, instead turning to his Tampa Bay teammates in the third base dugout.

Rays manager Kevin Cash waved an arm and pointed toward first base, urging Mesa to start the type of trot the 25-year-old yearned of when he defected from Cuba in 2018.

“That’s the moment that you want to live when you’re growing up,” Mesa said after his tiebreaking, two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning lifted Tampa Bay over the New York Yankees 4-3 on Wednesday night for a three-game sweep of their AL Division Series.

Ryan Vilade also homered for the Rays, who got help from a fan interference call and reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020. They 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 by replay umpire Malachi Moore 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 base. Jax recovered to strike out Spencer Jones.

Baseball’s embrace 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 replays to assist and Derek Jeter’s homer for the Yankees helped turn around the ALCS opener despite young fan 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.

Cleveland avoids elimination in Chicago

Jo Adell and José Ramírez powered Cleveland with a pair of two-out triples, and the Guardians avoided an AL Division Series sweep by cooling off the Chicago White Sox with a 9-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday.

Adell’s three-run triple gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Ramírez’s three-bagger drove in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey for a 7-3 advantage in the eighth.

The Guardians hit two triples in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history. They became the first major league team to accomplish the feat since the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Adell, Ramírez, Bailey and Brayan Rocchio each had two of the team’s 11 hits — a complete turnaround for the AL Central champions after they managed just three runs and seven hits in the first two games of the series combined.