James Hays reached back for his 2027 form and dominated the Yankees in Game 1 of the ALDS, leading the Rays to a 2-1 win. Hays was in cruise control outside of a Luke Voit homer in the 3rd before putting men on 1st and 3rd in the 8th with 2 out and his pitch count exceeding 100. With the red-hot Gleyber Torres due, Yasunari Uehara came on and got him to ground out to end the threat and then Uehara dispatched New York 1-2-3 in the 9th to preserve the win. There was a down note to the victory, though: Wander Franco had to leave the game after singling in a run and then stealing second in the 3rd with back spasms; it's a "moderate" 5-day injury. His replacement JP Crawford came through with the game-winning hit in the 5th after Ed Howard singled and stole second. Since we won Game 1 we'll err on the side of caution and keep Franco out of Game 2, and if we win that one, he'll sit Game 3. Otherwise he'll pressed into action if we feel we need him.
Meanwhile Detroit won a Game 1 slugfest over Seattle:
