Peralta, Caminero and Diaz lead Rays to Game 6 win over Guardians and a trip to the World Series

Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz each hit a two-run homer and Freddy Peralta threw 5 1/3 gritty innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night to advance to the World Series for the third time in the franchise's 29 seasons.

The Rays will face the Milwaukee Brewers in the first matchup in which both teams are seeking their first World Series title since 1980.

Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee.

"We got one more bite!" Rays manager Kevin Cash told his team as the clubhouse celebration started.

The loss extended Cleveland's World Series championship drought to 78 years.

"I couldn't be more proud of our group," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "It just hurts. It stings. Really felt like we had a team to go and just weren't able to get there."

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On the 18-year anniversary of their first AL pennant in 2008, the Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning on Richie Palacios' two-run double and clinched it with closer Bryan Baker on the mound.

The Guardians wouldn't give up and had the go-ahead run at first base in the eighth when Kevin Kelly struck out Brayan Rocchio to leave the bases loaded after two runs scored.

Peralta, the ALCS MVP, allowed one run and five hits to earn his second win of the series in his third appearance. He pitched six scoreless innings to win Game 2 and got two critical outs in relief in Game 4.

"His velocity was so high out of the gate, you were wondering how much he was going to be able to maintain it," Cash said. "But couldn't be more impressed with the way he continued to take deep breaths and just make pitch after pitch for us."

A sellout