Ultimate revenge Brosseau, Rays knock out Chapman, Yankees to reach ALCS
By Kristie Ackert
SAN DIEGO — SAN DIEGO — The Rays were furious when Aroldis Chapman threw a 101-mile an hour fastball behind Mike Brosseau’s head back in a fiery regular-season game on Sept. 1. They were even more ticked off when they heard Chapman’s suspension for that infraction was deferred on appeal by MLB until next season.
Friday night, they got some satisfaction.
Brosseau worked a 10-pitch at-bat, battling back from 0-2, to hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth off Chapman in the Rays’ 2-1 win over the Yankees that clinched the American League Division Series at Petco Park.
“Norevenge, no revenge,” Brosseau said on TV after the game. “We put that in that past and we came here to do what wedobest.”
The Rays, whowonthe ALEast and dominated the Yankees all year, now advance to the American League Championship Series where they will face the Astros beginning Sunday night. That best-of-seven series will also be played here at Petco Park to maintain the MLB playoff bubble to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Yankees fall to 5-5 in the ultimate game of the ALDS and fail to advance out of the division series for the second time in three seasons.
The Yankees needed a perfect pitching plan to get through this series. They got a strong 5.1 inning start from Gerrit Cole on short rest. They got 1.1 scoreless from Zack Britton, but the plan was spoiled in the seventh.
Gio Urshela bobbled a ground