'Threw the S--t Out of It,' Drew Rasmussen Hyped by Rays After Dominant Win vs. Yankees

The New York Yankees were the ones who started a Cy Young winner and six-time All-Star in Gerrit Cole for Saturday's Game 1 of their American League Division Series game against the Tampa Bay Rays, but he wasn't the best pitcher in the contest.

That honor went to Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen.

"He threw the s--t out of it," Rays starter Nick Martinez said of Rasmussen's brilliant performance in the 1-0 victory, per ESPN's Jorge Castillo . "He's the guy we rely on, man, and he showed why we rely on him."

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Rasmussen gave up just one hit and two walks with 10 strikeouts in eight scoreless innings to seize the early advantage in the series.

Castillo noted it was a postseason franchise record for strikeouts and continued the right-hander's dominance of the Bronx Bombers. He entered Saturday's game with a 1.81 ERA in 11 outings against New York and just took a no-hitter into the seventh inning the previous time he faced the division rivals.

"I think my heart rate was a hair higher tonight than it was [the last time]," Rasmussen said.

He also kept the performance in perspective and said, "Yes, tonight was special. Yes, tonight was a good team win. But there's still a lot of series ahead of us."

The Rays needed him to be nearly unhittable, as Cole was excellent as well while allowing just one run and five hits in five innings of work. The Yankees' bullpen also threw three shutout innings, but the problem was the offense for the visitors.

With Aaron Judge still sidelined by injury, New York was unable to generate any type of sustained momentum against Rasmussen.

Fortunately for the Yankees, they will have the opportunity to even the series Monday with likely American League Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler taking the mound for Game 2.

Schlittler struck out 10 in 6.1 scoreless innings during his start against the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series and will need to be equally as effective if he wants to match Rasmussen's performance from Game 1.