Rays beat Yankees 4-3 for 3-game Division Series sweep behind Mesa homer, fan interference call

NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Mesa Jr. hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Max Fried in the sixth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Wednesday night with the help of a fan interference call for a three-game sweep of their AL Division Series.

Ryan Vilade also homered for the Rays, who reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020 and host the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians in the opener on Monday.

After Mesa's homer gave the Rays a 4-2 lead, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a two-run shot against Griffin Jax with two outs in the bottom half as a fan reached over the left-field wall and caught the ball over the glove of a leaping Mesa.

A video review determined the ball would not have cleared the fence but would not have been caught by Mesa. Volpe was awarded an RBI double and George Lombard Jr. was allowed to score from first base. Jax recovered to strike out Spencer Jones.

Baseball's adaptation of video technology was key to the inning.

Lombard reached with a one-out walk when a 3-1 pitch called a strike by plate umpire Dan Bellino was ruled inside on an ABS challenge. Austin Wells then walked on full-count changeup but an ABS challenge by Rays catcher Liam Hicks ruled the pitch caught the inside corner for a strikeout, bringing up Volpe.

Quite a change from 1996, when umpires did not have technology to assist and Derek Jeter's homer for the Yankees helped turn around the ALCS opener despite young fan Jeffrey Meier reaching over the right-field wall where Baltimore's Tony Tarasco was set to catch the ball. MLB began using video replay for home run calls in 2008 and allowed challenges to ball/strike decisions starting this year.

Ian Seymour pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win, Kevin Kelly struck out pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton to strand a runner in the eighth and Bryan Baker pitched the ninth for his third save of the series.

Seeking its first World Series title, Tampa Bay celebrated on the field of the big-spending Yankees for the second time in two weeks after clinching the AL East on Sept. 22. New York opened the season with MLB's third-highest payroll at $303 million while the Rays were 26th at $91 million.

Swept in a best-of-five postseason matchup for the first time since the 1980 ALCS against Kansas City, the Yankees ended their 17th straight season without a World Series crown. That equaled their longest drought since winning their first championship in 1923, a gap between titles in 1978 and '96.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge missed the postseason after straining a calf on Sept. 16. The three-time AL MVP played just seven games after May 31 because of a fractured rib and the leg injury, an absence the team couldn't overcome.

New York batted .130 in the series and was outscored 10-5.

After sweeping Boston in the Wild Card Series, New York never led against the Rays and has not advanced past a higher-seeded team in the postseason since 2020.

Jonathan Aranda put the Rays ahead with an RBI single in the third and Ben Rice tied the score against Nick Martinez with a single in the bottom half, his eighth RBI of the postseason.

Vilade, a 27-year-old getting extensive big league playing time this year with his sixth major league organization, hit an opposite-field, 340-foot drive into the right-field short porch in the fourth. The ball, just over the glove of a jumping Jones, would not have been out of any other big league ballpark.

Volpe, starting at second base in place of Jazz Chisholm Jr., hit a 96.6 mph liner off Martinez’s back with two outs in the fourth for an infield single, and Seymour relieved. Jones’ opposite-field double landed beyond Mesa, driving in Volpe.

Junior Caminero singled in the sixth and Mesa sent a sweeper deep into the right-field seats to chase Fried. It was the first home run he allowed to a left-handed hitter since August 2025.

Tampa Bay gets four days off and will have played just three games in 14 days before starting the ALCS.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz, left, Jorge Mateo (9), Chandler Simpson (14) and Nick Fortes (40) celebrate the team's win in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda, center right, and the rest of the team celebrate their win in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the New York Yankees Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The Tampa Bay Rays celebrate the team's win in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe celebrates after scoring on a Spencer Jones double during the fourth inning in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Tampa Bay Rays' Ryan Vilade celebrates his solo home run durin the fourth inning in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. makes an attempt on a ball interfered with by fans that umpires reviewed and ruled a run-scoring double by New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe during the sixth inning in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. makes an attempt on a ball interfered with by fans that umpires reviewed and ruled a run-scoring double by New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe during the sixth inning in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Tampa Bay Rays' Victor Mesa Jr. celebrates his two-run home run during the sixth inning in Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Opal Lee, the lifelong Texan and a driving force in making Juneteenth a federal holiday, spent her 100th birthday on Wednesday at the center of celebrations in her hometown that included a visit from former first lady Michelle Obama.

Lee attended the groundbreaking for a Fort Worth a museum dedicated to telling the history of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S, and was later joined at an evening event headlined by Obama. The planned 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square-meter) National Juneteenth Museum, located in a historically Black neighborhood, is projected to open in 2029.

Lee, widely known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” wore a flower lei and was surrounded by family and friends while expressing happiness and gratitude after the announcement of a $3 million donation by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I’m so happy I could do a holy dance, and these old legs won’t respond, but let me tell you how thankful I am and that this deed won’t go unnoticed,” Lee said.

When then-President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday, Lee was by his side.

The holiday marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston at the end of the Civil War with an order declaring the freedom of the enslaved people in Texas. It was about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the enslaved people in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. Six months later, the ratification of the 13th Amendment permanently ended slavery in the United States.

Lee has been a force in Fort Worth, where she worked for decades as a teacher, counselor and community activist.

She has said she has cherished childhood memories of celebrating Juneteenth with food, music and games, and as an adult, she was involved in planning the celebration in Fort Worth.

“Long before there were historic walks, cameras, books and well-deserved national acclaim, my childhood memories are filled with you making sure that Fort Worth remembered,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee H. Toliver said at the event.

She told Lee that she remembered her planning community events, parades and festivals.

“You always reminded us that history is not something you leave behind, it’s something you actively protect,” Toliver said.

The future site of the museum is not far from the home that was built for Lee a couple of years ago on the same tree-lined corner lot that her family had been driven from by a racist mob when she was a young girl.

Lee was 12 when, on Juneteenth in 1939, a white mob of hundreds descended on her Black family’s home, days after they moved into a white neighborhood. The mob smashed windows and furniture, according to newspaper reports from the time.

Jarred Howard, the museum’s CEO, was among those who honored Lee on Wednesday.

“It was important for us to do this on this date because everything we’ve done for the last several years, everything we continue to do, is built around the spirit of the venerable Miss Opal Lee,” he said.

The Southside Community Center is demolished as work begins to build the National Juneteenth Museum during an event honoring Opal Lee's 100th birthday, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Opal Lee looks on as a speaker talks during an event honoring her 100th birthday on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Opal Lee, bottom center, is surrounded by supporters during an event honoring her 100th birthday Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Opal Lee reacts as confetti is popped during an event honoring her 100th birthday Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)