Wednesday, 4 a.m.
Presenting your American League East champions...the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays won their 96th game of the year, stopping the New York Yankees 6-1 in the second game of a doubleheader.
The Rays, picked to be a mediocre team when the season began, ended in first place for 110 days to capture their fifth division title.
The héros?
-- Drew Rasmussen won his 16th game, throwing 6 2/3 inningss of one-hit baseball. He struck out 11.
-- Yandy Diaz entered the game in one of the worst slumps of his career. He walked to the plate 0-for-29 skid. But in the final three innings, he had two hits and drove in four runs as the Rays pulled away.
-- Taylor Walls, normally a light-hitting, strong-fielding shortstop, had three hits in the winning game.
The Rays had lost the first game of the doubleheader, 2-0. Yankees' pitcher Carlos Rodan held the Rays to just three hits in the game.
Nick Martinez pitched well for the Rays, but he gave up a two-run homer to Cody Bellinger in the fourth inning. Martinez fell to a 15-5.
The Rays and Yankees play again at 7:05 tonight. Ian Seymour (9-7) will start for the Rays against Gerrit Cole (9-9).
