CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen held Cleveland to one run over seven innings and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Guardians 3-1 on Sunday night, taking a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series and moving within one victory of the World Series.

The Rays scored a run in each of the first three innings at Progressive Field and then let their starter and bullpen protect the lead. Game 6 is Monday night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Tampa Bay can clinch its third AL pennant and first since 2020.

The win leaves the Guardians, who own the longest championship drought in the majors at 77 seasons, needing two straight victories on the road. Cleveland has never won an ALCS after trailing 3-2, according to The Associated Press.

Rasmussen, 31, allowed four hits, walked one and struck out six on 95 pitches. After Chase DeLauter singled with two outs in the first inning, he retired nine batters in a row and 14 of the next 15, MLB.com reported.

He is now 2-0 with a 1.29 earned run average in three postseason starts, with 23 strikeouts and three walks. According to MLB.com, he is the only pitcher in Rays history with more than one postseason start of at least seven innings while allowing one run or fewer, and he has done it in two of his last three outings.

"I really do think he's the best pitcher in MLB," Rays designated hitter Yandy Díaz said through interpreter Kevin Vera, according to MLB.com.

Rasmussen leaned on a changeup he threw 27 times to left-handed hitters, a career-high 28% of his pitches, and Cleveland did not get a hit against it. "It's probably been the single greatest addition I've made to my repertoire in the entirety of my career," he told MLB.com.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt summed up the problem in six words. "Three fastballs and a really good changeup," he said.

Tampa Bay got to Cleveland starter Parker Messick immediately. Díaz led off the game with a double and scored on a bases-loaded walk. In the second, Jonathan Aranda singled home Ben Williamson. Messick, 25, lasted two innings and gave up two runs on five hits and three walks, the shortest outing of his big league career, according to the AP.

The third run came against reliever Tim Herrin. Chandler Simpson led off the third with a double and scored when Liam Hicks looped a curveball into shallow center field, ESPN reported.

Díaz finished with three hits. Aranda and Hicks each had two hits and a run batted in. The Rays' leadoff hitter reached base in each of the first four innings, and Tampa Bay leadoff men have reached in 10 of 14 innings since Saturday's 7-3 win in Game 4, according to the AP.

The lead could have been larger. Tampa Bay left seven runners on base through four innings, and Steven Kwan threw out Taylor Walls at the plate on Aranda's fourth-inning single. Kwan also made a leaping catch at the center-field wall on Victor Mesa Jr.'s drive in the eighth.

Cleveland's only run came in the sixth, when Kwan and José Ramírez singled and DeLauter brought a run home.

Cam Booser and Tyler Wells handled the eighth for Tampa Bay, with Wells striking out Ramírez to strand a runner. Bryan Baker pitched the ninth for his fifth save of the postseason, converting his 35th consecutive save opportunity, and Travis Bazzana's groundout ended the game.

"The way he limited anything was really, really impressive," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Rasmussen, according to MLB.com.

The series had been tied 2-2 after the Rays' offense broke out for seven runs on Saturday. Cleveland used six pitchers to get through Sunday's game, and ESPN's Jorge Castillo wrote that the Guardians' heavy reliance on their bullpen could become an edge for Tampa Bay.

Vogt did not dispute the task ahead. "We need to rebound tomorrow," he said, adding that "we need to get guys on base and we need to score runs," according to MLB.com.

Kwan told reporters the clubhouse would move on quickly. "Knowing our guys, we're going to flush it, get focused for tomorrow and learn what didn't go right tonight," he said.

Cleveland has already recovered from a deficit once this October, losing the first two games of its division series to the Chicago White Sox before winning three straight.

The Rays, playing their 29th season, lost the World Series to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. The Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series on Thursday to reach their first World Series since 1982, are waiting for the AL winner. Neither Milwaukee nor Tampa Bay has won a championship.

Freddy Peralta will start Game 6 for Tampa Bay, MLB.com reported. He threw six shutout innings with six strikeouts in Game 2 and nine pitches of relief in Game 4. Vogt said Gavin Williams, who has 33 strikeouts in 16 2/3 postseason innings and last pitched in Game 3, is "not an option" to start for Cleveland, and the Guardians had not named a starter.

First pitch Monday is set for 8 p.m. ET. A Game 7, if necessary, would be played Tuesday in St. Petersburg, and the World Series opens Friday in Milwaukee.