The Tampa Bay Rays have been fighting a difficult battle in Game 1 of the ALCS, what with the Cleveland Guardians coming back from a two-run deficit early in the contest to take a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. One solo shot each in the sixth and seventh innings tied the game for Cleveland before a two-run single from Nathaniel Lowe gave them the lead in the eighth.

With the Rays in dire need of an answer to keep in step in the contest, Cedric Mullins came to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Mullins came on in the sixth to pinch run for Ryan Vilade, and he promptly stole second base. He did not come around to score during that time, however. But that changed in the eighth.

In his very first at-bat of the game, Mullins was on the brink of striking out — with Guardians reliever Erik Sabrowski getting him to a 1-2 count. Sabrowski then threw a hanging slider to the Rays outfielder for the fourth pitch of the at-bat, and Mullins pounced on it, sending it to the right-field bleachers to cut the deficit to just one run.

Cedric Mullins makes it just a 1-run game after this DEEP HOMER 🚀 pic.twitter.com/BgjQIGLUAV

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 13, 2026

Alas, the Rays could not capitalize on the momentum Mullins' homer brought. Sabrowski rebounded to get three consecutive outs, leaving a 4-3 lead for the Guardians heading into the top of the ninth.

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Cleveland then wasted no time padding their lead. It looked like the Rays were containing the situation after they got two outs after allowing a leadoff hit, but that's when disaster struck. After a balk advanced Angel Martinez to second base, Jose Ramirez came up with an RBI single to push their lead back up to two runs. Chase DeLauter, a thorn in the Rays' side, walked on the next at-bat, which set up Jo Adell's two-run double that proved to be the decisive blow.

Mullins' long ball was a cool moment, but the Rays ended up losing, 7-3, to fall behind in the ALCS 1-0.