Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen nearly made postseason history, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Jonathan Aranda smacked a solo home run Saturday night as the Rays beat the Yankees, 1-0, in Game 1 of the Division Series at Tropicana Field.

Rasmussen, the Rays’ ace, threw eight shutout innings, allowing only one hit. He struck out 10 and walked two.

The Yanks had a chance to get to Rasmussen when they finally got a hit against him with two outs in the eighth inning. But Austin Wells tried to stretch an easy double into a triple and was thrown out by a large margin.

Gerrit Cole threw five good innings for the Yankees. But even coming off an offensive splurge in the previous series against Boston, the Yanks couldn’t get anything going. Aaron Judge might’ve helped, but he is still managing that calf injury and is not on the roster for the Division Series.

Here are the takeaways...

-Wells, who had a terrific Wild Card Series against Boston, finally got the first hit off Rasmussen, with two outs in the eighth inning. But the play ended in a way that’s sure to be dwelled upon, at least by Yankee fans. Wells laced a ball that just stayed fair down the right-field line for an extra-base hit. But Wells tried to stretch a gimme double into three bases but was easily thrown out at third. The Rays’ really sharp relay went from right fielder Victor Mesa to shortstop Taylor Walls to Junior Caminero at third.

-Rasmussen will get another chance to pitch in this series, which could be alarming news for the Yankees. Saturday, he got 23 swings-and-misses all told, including 10 on 18 cuts at his baffling changeup. Rasmussen, who boasts an arsenal similar to Cam Schlittler in that he, too, uses three fastballs, averaged 96.2 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball and also featured a cutter and sinker. He threw 101 pitches, 69 for strikes and had retired 15 straight before Wells’ hit.

-There have only been three no-hit games in postseason history – Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series, Roy Halladay’s Division Series no-no for the Phillies in 2010 and a combined no-hitter by the Astros in the 2022 World Series.

-The Rays did not have Rasmussen, who’s had three arm surgeries in his career, start the ninth, instead choosing closer Bryan Baker. Baker converted 41-of-44 save chances during the regular season, including a streak of 30 in a row and had a 1.44 ERA. He faced pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who had not played since April because of injury. Baker struck out Stanton for the first out of the inning, caught Ben Rice looking at a changeup for strike three and Cody Bellinger grounded to first.

-Cole threw five strong innings, allowing only that one run on Aranda’s homer, and gave up five hits while striking out five and walking one. He threw 58 of his 82 pitches for strikes and got 11 swings-and-misses. There were a couple of moments of loud contact beyond Aranda’s homer – Richie Palacios missed a home run by only a few feet in the second inning. His drive to right-center hit the top of the wall, good for a double. Liam Hicks doubled off the right-center wall one out after Aranda’s homer, but Cole stranded him. Cole had an entertaining battle with Caminero to end the fifth inning, a dramatic 12-pitch encounter that resulted in a strikeout as Caminero looked at a breaking ball. That was Cole’s last batter.

-Cole has a 2.73 ERA now in 23 career October starts and has allowed one earned run or less in 11 of those outings. In five career postseason starts against Tampa Bay, Cole has a 1.69 ERA.

-Aranda’s home run was his first career hit in the postseason and it traveled 417 feet and left his bat at 107.1 miles per hour. Aranda had been 2-for-10 lifetime against Cole before the tater.

-Ryan Weathers, who had not pitched since Aug. 22, relieved Cole and threw a scoreless sixth inning, getting three groundouts to first base. Paul Blackburn threw 1.2 scoreless frames and Brent Headrick got the final out of the eighth for the Yankees.

-How vital can an ABS challenge be? One might have helped the Yankees get out of a sticky second inning. Wells challenged a 1-2 pitch to Chandler Simpson that was called a ball with two runners on base. It was reviewed and overturned, resulting in an inning-ending strikeout that stranded two. During the regular season, Wells was successful 82 times in 131 challenges, or 62.6 percent. Overall in MLB, catchers succeeded on 59 percent of their challenges. Only two catchers had more successful challenges than Wells.

Game MVP: Drew Rasmussen

He’s now the owner of the longest no-hit bid in Rays postseason history and was really never in trouble. He brought a career 1.81 ERA against the Yankees into the start and was even more remarkable than usual against them.

Here are the takeaways...

Game MVP: Drew Rasmussen

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