St. Petersburg, Florida - The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 to reach baseball's World Series for the third time on Monday.

Junior Caminero and Yandy Diaz both crushed decisive two-run home runs, and starting pitcher Freddy Peralta delivered a gem to send the Rays into a Fall Classic showdown with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Tampa Bay's victory means Major League Baseball will have a new champion this season: neither the Rays nor the Brewers have ever won a World Series.

Tampa Bay lost in the Fall Classic in 2008 and 2020, while the Brewers were beaten in their only previous appearance in the 1982 World Series.

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Milwaukee will head into the World Series as top seeds and favorites after sweeping the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series last week.

But Tampa Bay advance brimming with confidence after recovering from a 2-1 deficit to complete a 4-2 American League Championship Series victory at Tropicana Field in Florida.

Richie Palacios had driven Tampa Bay into the lead in the bottom of the second inning, with a two-out, two-strike double that brought home Chandler Simpson and Victor Mesa Jr. for a 2-0 lead.

Tampa Bay tacked on another run in the third inning when Caminero scored after Jonny DeLuca's sacrifice fly to left field.

Peralta, who gave up one run across five and one-third innings, continued to cruise, but Cleveland finally broke through in the sixth inning with Nathaniel Lowe's single allowing Chase DeLauter to score to the deficit to 3-1.

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Tampa Bay looked to have put one foot in the World Series in the seventh inning when Caminero launched a 346-foot two-run blast into left field off Cade Smith that left the Rays 5-1 up.

But a nervy eighth inning display by Rays reliever Ian Seymour gave Cleveland hope. After walking Travis Bazzana to load the bases, Seymour walked Patrick Bailey to gift Cleveland a run at 5-2.

Seymour followed that by hitting Angel Martinez with his first pitch to give Cleveland another run at 5-3.

Rays reliever Kevin Kelly staunched the bleeding after Seymour was replaced to leave it at 5-3, and then in the bottom of the inning Tampa Bay made the game safe.

Diaz pounced on a 75mph change-up from Hunter Gaddis, sweeping a home run into left field to restore Tampa Bay's four-run cushion and effectively seal victory.