From the HERE City National Desk
The Tampa Bay Rays swept the New York Yankees out of the American League Division Series on Wednesday night, winning Game 3 by a 4-3 score at Yankee Stadium with help from a fan interference ruling.
Victor Mesa Jr. hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a game-tying two-run homer off Griffin Jax, but a fan reached over the left-field wall and caught the ball above the glove of a leaping Mesa.
Video review found that the ball would not have cleared the fence and that Mesa would not have caught it. Volpe was awarded an RBI double, cutting the lead to one run, and Jax then struck out Spencer Jones to end the threat.
Ryan Vilade also homered for the Rays, and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth for his third save of the series. Tampa Bay reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020 and will host the White Sox or the Guardians in Game 1 on Monday.
It was the first time the Yankees were swept in a best-of-five postseason series since the 1980 ALCS against Kansas City. New York opened the season with the third-highest payroll in baseball at $303 million, while the Rays ranked 26th at $91 million.
