*Photo from CBS Sports*
Charlie Morton pitched 5 effective innings, Yandy Diaz homered twice, and the Tampa Bay Rays powered their way to a 5-1 victory in the wild card game on the road against the Oakland Athletics. Manager Kevin Cash gambled by inserting Diaz into the leadoff spot, as Diaz had only played one game since July, and that was game 162 against Toronto. The Rays now get to play the best team in the AL, the Houston Astros, in the ALDS.
Diaz started the scoring in the first inning by taking lefty Sean Manaea deep to start the game. In the second, Avisail Garcia ripped a two run homer off the batter's eye in center field to make it 3-0 Rays. In the 3rd, Diaz homered again to make it 4-0. Oakland scored in the bottom of the 3rd on a Ramon Laureano sac fly. In the 5th, Tommy Pham homered off the batter's eye to make it 5-1 Rays, which held.
Morton went 5 innings for the Rays, giving up one run on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 4 hitters. Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson, and Emilio Pagan finished the game for the Rays. Pham said that ''We have a tough road ahead of us, Houston's a great team, but we played them well this year. It's going to be a dogfight." Kevin Kiermaier said that ''It's a beautiful thing having the lowest payroll in baseball and having the success we did, it always feels good to stick it to the man any time you're able to in this game, and that's something to be very proud of.''
The A's have lost 9 straight winner take all games since 2000, going 1-15 with a chance to advance in the playoffs, their one win coming in 2006. Just like this year, Oakland fell behind early in the 2018 wild card game and lost 7-2 to the New York Yankees. Manager Bob Melvin said that ''That's kind of our game. They kind of beat us with our game. We're normally a home run-hitting team." Manaea went two innings, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits. Jesus Luzardo had the longest outing for the A's, pitching 3 innings. Yusmeiro Petit, Jake Diekman, and Liam Hendriks also pitched for Oakland.
Oakland has to watch the rest of the playoffs from the couch, while the Rays play Houston in the ALDS. Tyler Glasnow has been named the game one starter.
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