Brosseau home run off Chapman lifts Rays past Yankees.
Brosseau homer the big hit off Chapman in eighth inning
Game 5 of the AL Division Series between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays was everything expected in an elimination game, tight and tense and ready to turn on any one pitch.
That pitch came with one out in the bottom of the eighth of a tie game when Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, called on early because of the gravity of the game, aimed a 100 mph fastball toward home plate.
The 3-2 pitch never arrived in catcher Gary Sanchez’s glove, it’s path to the plate interrupted by the swing of Tampa Bay’s Mike Brosseau. He smacked the ball three rows up into the left-field seats at Petco Park, giving Tampa Bay a 2-1 seriesclinching win.
“He has provided such a spark for us in whatever role we’ve asked him to do,” said Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash, who sent Brosseau into the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. He singled before his homer, collecting two of the Rays’ three hits in the game.
The victory earned the Rays their first trip to the ALCS since 2008 when they advanced to the World Series for the only time in franchise history (losing to Philadelphia). They open the sevengame series against Houston on Sunday at Petco Park.
“I don’t know if there’s any way to describe that kind of feeling,” Brosseau said of his homer. “I couldn’t be happier to keep this season going.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, speaking from the other side, said: “It’s awful. ...
Rays 2, Yankees 1
The ending is cruel.”
“I feel terrible,” said Chapman, who allowed the gamewinning homer in an elimination game for the second straight year.
There was some irony in the Chapman-Brosseau confrontation deciding the series.
During a Sept. 1 game in New York, Chapman threw a 101-mph fastball close to the head of Brosseau that brought players onto the field and extended bad blood between the teams that dates back a decade. Chapman received a three-game suspension for the incident, although
it is on an appeal that has been postponed until 2021.
Consider the penalty served. “The revenge aspect is not a thought in my mind,” Brosseau said. “We put that in the past. This was a business trip. ... You can’t script it any
better.”
That was apparent enough as Brosseau and his Rays teammates posed for pictures along the first-base line after the game. Several Rays players returned to the dugout later, celebrated with cigars and danced as “New York, New York,” — Sinatra version — played mockingly over the PA.
Brosseau was especially joyous for the moment, grinding out a 10-pitch at-bat the way he has a professional career that began four years ago as an undrafted infielder out of Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. He was overlooked in both the 2015 and 2016 drafts, which each in
cluded 40 rounds.
The Rays called Brosseau up to the majors last season and he batted .273 over 50 games with six homers and 16 RBIs. He put up similar numbers this season, hitting .302 with five homers and 12 RBIs.
According to StatCast, the 100.2 mph fastball Brosseau hit was the fastest pitch hit for a home run during the entire 2020 season. It also was the fastest pitch hit by a Rays player since tracking began in 2008.
“That was very storybook. Crazy,” Tampa Bay starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow said. “That’s just nuts. It’s just so awesome that it’s him.”