ALDS Game 1: Yanks Get Blanked By Rays, 1-0
By Andy Singer
October 4th, 2026
The Big Story
Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap. This is one of those times. Drew Rasmussen was absolutely masterful on the mound for the Rays last night, mixing 3 different fastballs and an absolutely diabolical change-up to completely confound the Yankees. Rasmussen tossed a no-hitter until Austin Wells doubled to RF with 2 outs in the 8th inning. By the 8th inning, I actually thought the Yanks would be no-hit.
Gerrit Cole did his job. He scattered 5 hits throughout his 5 innings of work, including the game-winning homer in the 3rd inning to Jonathan Aranda on a flat change-up that stayed on plane as it gently faded from the middle to the outside corner. I don't necessarily think that Cole was working with his best stuff after the long layoff, an opinion clearly shared by Aaron Boone, as he was quick to go to the bullpen. He was correct to do so, as the bullpen was stellar with 3 no-hit innings.
The Yanks are down 1-0 in a 5 game series. It's getting late early.
8th Inning Baserunning
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Wells' 8th inning double that stunningly ended the top half of the inning. Wells connected on one of the few pitches that Rasmussen missed on all night, a 94 MPH sinker that caught a lot of plate, sending the pitch screaming into the RF corner on a 107.8 MPH line drive.
We have all watched Wells run; he is not exactly a burner on the basepaths. When you hit a ball that hard into turf, it allows the fielder to get to the ball faster. These are basic facts, right?!? Clearly, someone needs to explain them to Austin Wells. He ran right through 3B Coach Luis Rojas' stop sign and was thrown out by half a mile at 3B. It was the first semblance of a spark the Yankees had shown all night, and it was the last they'd see.
Wells is hitting vastly better since July than he did for the first half of the season, but he has to understand the situation. Watching a catcher get thrown out in the 8th inning of a 1-run ballgame trying to stretch a double into a triple was completely deflating.
The Yankees have a tendency to get beat by ill-advised aggressiveness on the basepaths (go back and watch Ben Rice get thrown out at home plate in Game 2 of the Wild Card Round), and this was the worst time for this attribute to reappear.
Weathers Debuts In The Bullpen
Ryan Weathers is healthy enough to pitch out of the bullpen in this series, and it was obvious that Boone had a specific lane of the lineup in mind for Weathers. Weathers pitched to the 3 lefties stacked together in the Rays lineup: Liam Hicks, Chandler Simpson, and Victor Mesa Jr. Weathers wasn't working with his peak velocity, but his stuff appeared plenty sharp. Weathers did his job on 9 pitches, and while he isn't allowed to go on back-to-back days, I'd imagine he'll be available again in Game 2, if needed.
The upgrade from one of Tim Hill or Ryan Yarbrough to Ryan Weathers is immense, and it paid dividends last night.
Spencer Jones Doesn't Like The High Ones
I told you before this series started that I was worried about Spencer Jones in this series. He has a huge hole in his swing at the top of the zone, and he just can't consistently touch fastballs at the top of the zone and above. I knew that the Rays would try to exploit this weakness. I was right - Drew Rasmussen peppered Jones with fastballs up and change-ups down, and Jones looked lost at the plate all night.
Jones has to figure something out on that front, or he's not going to make any offensive contribution in this series.
Jazz Chisholm Flashes What Could Be
Jazz Chisholm gave a quick blueprint of what the Yankees need to do to beat the Rays in this series. In the 2nd inning, Jazz worked a 9-pitch walk that included fouling off 3 good pitches in a row with 2 strikes against him. He promptly stole 2nd base with Grisham at the plate. If I'm not mistaken, Chisholm's stolen base gave the Yankees 8 consecutive successfully stolen bases against the Rays dating back to the regular season.
This is the blueprint for the Yankees: working counts, scratching for walks and hits, and stealing bases. The Rays' catchers can't throw out basestealers, so the Yankees' speed can be a real weapon if they can just reach base.
Looking To Tomorrow
The Yanks get to rest before they get their ace, Cam Schlittler, on the mound on Monday night. It feels like this will be the most critical game in the series. If the Yankees lose with Schlittler on the mound, kiss the series goodbye. If they win Game 2, they're right back in it.
Absolutely right on that huge hole in Jones strike zone. He makes it even bigger because he tries to hit that pitch with his upper cut, full power swing. As bone headed as wells was, they lost because they had 12Ks and 1 hit.
The Yankees seem to find ways to beat themselves.... this was evident with Wells last night!
Wells' play was even worse than you describe. There were two outs. It is axiomatic that you don't make the third out at third base (or the first out, for that matter). A base hit would almost as likely score him (or likely a pinch runner) from second as from third. Moreover, you have Rasmussen at 101 pitches going from the stretch for only the third time in the night -- or you have a reliever coming in who is either Baker trying to get 4 outs or a less-than-Baker. We now have two baserunning errors in three games. I agree with all the folks here who said that the only way the Yankees lose is if they beat themselves.
the Rays can not pitch any better than they did last night.