Brosseau turns tables on chapman
SAN DIEGO — The Rays’ Mike Brosseau said he wasn’t seeking revenge against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, just the chance to keep playing.
He ended up getting both. Brosseau hit a dramatic home run against Chapman with one out in the eighth inning, and the Rays beat the Yankees 2-1 on Friday to reach the American League Championship Series for the first time in 12 seasons.
The first career postseason homer for Brosseau, a 26-year-old utility player, came after a 10-pitch at-bat against the hardthrowing Chapman, who had entered in the seventh. Brosseau drove a 100 mph fastball into the left-field seats at Petco Park for only the Rays’ third hit.
Brosseau and Chapman have a history. Chapman threw a 101 mph fastball near Brosseau’s head in the ninth inning of the Yankees’ 5-3 victory Sept. 1. Chapman likely had nothing against Brosseau personally, but the pitchwas an apparent escalation of a feud between the AL East rivals, and it prompted Rays manager Kevin Cash’s infamous declaration that he has ‘‘a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 miles an hour.’’
Brosseau pumped his fists and hollered ‘‘Yes!’’ as he began his trot. When he returned to the dugout, there were celebratory body bumps and high-fives with his teammates.
‘‘No revenge, we put that in the past,’’ said Brosseau, who pinch-hit in the sixth and stayed in at first base. ‘‘We came here to win the series. We came here to move on, to do what we do best. That’s play our game.’’
The Rays had a $29 million payroll, 28th out of the 30 major-league teams, in this coronavirus-shortened season; the Yankees had the third-highest at $84million. The Rays dominated the regular-season series againstnst the Yankees 8-2 and were the AL’s No. 1 seed.ed.
About an hour after the game ended,, a number of Rays came back out to the fieldeld and dugout with beverages and cigars and trolled the Yankees by playing Frank Sina-natra’s version of ‘‘New York, New York,’’ whichich is played at Yankee Stadium after victories,es, and Jay-Z’s ‘‘Empire State of Mind.’’
After winning the AL Division Series 3-2,2 the Rays will stay in San Diego to face the Astros in the ALCS starting Sunday. The Rays are in the ALCS for the first time since they beat the Red Sox in seven games in 2008 before losing to the Phillies in theWorld Series.
The Rays were eliminated by the Astros in
the ALDS last seasonseason.
‘‘They’ve been the team to beat the last few years,’’ Brosseau said. ‘‘They knocked us out last year, so it will be fun to face them again.’’
Brosseau was an unlikely hero in a season that has had many twists and turns because of the pandemic. After he went undrafted, the Rays signed him in June 2016 for $1,000.
‘‘That was very, like, storybook,’’ Rays starter Tyler Glasnow said. ‘‘That was crazy. Just to go out there and have that long of an at-bat, battle that long with all the history we’ve had, that’s just nuts. I still can’t even comprehend it.’’
Chapman is the only pitcher in postseason history to allow a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later with his team facing elimination multiple times. He yielded a game-ending drive to the Astros’ Jose Altuve in Game 6 of the ALCS last season.
‘‘I thought Imade some good pitches in that moment,’’ Chapman said through a translator. ‘‘I think it was a fastball to the middle in. He put good contact on it.’’
AustinMeadows also homered for theRays. Aaron Judge homered for the Yankees.