Rays Clinch American League East Championship 2021

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Tampa Bay Rays made franchise history Saturday night clinching the American League East division championship for the first time at home winning over Miami 7-3.

Last year, the Rays clinched the division in New York City.

Miami brought the heat to the Tropicana Field with Sandy Alcantara's pitching and the Marlins' defense. Marlins were the first to score at the top of the third inning when Miguel Rojas hit a solo home run off Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan.

This game was not one of McClanahan's best nights. Unfocused pitching and slow defense is what the Rays gave much of in the first five innings. Marlins kept Rays scoreless until the bottom of fourth inning when outfielder Austin Meadows scored off shortstop Joey Wendle's line drive RBI. Momentum started to build for the home team after that.

Rays began showing infield defense in the third inning with a deep centerfield catch from Kevin Kiermaier, and a simple three up, three down.

Luck shown on Brett Phillips at bottom of fifth inning hitting a ground ball to second baseman Jazz Chisolm Jr. that he couldn't grab quickly enough as Phillips cruised on over to first base. Catcher Mike Zunino then hit a two-run homer pulling the Rays ahead 3 - 1.

Cash replaced McClanahan with right - hand pitcher Kevin McHugh at the top of sixth following a score by Miami. Rays also scored in bottom of sixth. The big screen showed the latest AL Standings at the top of the sixth inning, New York Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-3. If the Rays could stay ahead until the end, they'd clinch the AL East division.

At top of seventh, Cash called Jake Feyereisen and he provided defensive pitching to keep Rays ahead. Marlins replaced Alcantara with right - handed pitcher Richard Bleier who intentionally walked Randy Arozarena at bottom of eighth. End of top of eighth Feyereisen had thrown 18 strikes, nine balls in the game.

Rays scored two runs at the bottom of eighth making score 7 - 3. Rays' Pete Fairbanks pitched the last inning under intense pressure in those final moments. Three runners on base in the ninth. Lewis Brinson would either RBI or strikeout. Zero balls, two strikes he hit a pop fly and Choi caught him out. Rays win.

Postgame Celebration

Players ran onto the field with champagne bottles having celebratory boyish fun spraying each other, including Cash. Friends and family congratulated them with hugs and kisses. Kevin Kiermaier's oldest son, Karter, interrupted his dad in the clubhouse during the post conference to sit in his lap and get a little spotlight with dad.

"It's hard to put into words, but this is what it's all about," Keirmaier told reporters. "You know we had such a great year last year, and such a great year with the pandemic going on, and then with this year we were looking forward to having the fans back in a 162-game season. And we set the message early in spring training, "Ya know fellas, let's rebound and not have that World Series — ya know we didn't win obviously but you see that's a thing where teams get content and say, 'We didn't make it last year,' but no, we were hungry, and that was one of the first things that was said in spring training this year."

Cash said there was a lot of hugging, yelling and champagne, and just an appreciation of what they've accomplished. "You know you're going to have a lot of challenges, and I think every team can speak for itself, so there's a lot of appreciation for what was accomplished to be able to hang another AL East."

They've proved they're the best team in the AL East for the past six months, Cash said. He wants the team to keep it up for the next month and see where they go.