*Photo from Yahoo Sports*
Texas wins series 2-0
On to the next stage go the Texans. Josh Jung drove in a run, Evan Carter homered, and the Texas Rangers routed the Tampa Bay Rays with a 7-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersburg.
After shutting out the Rays in game one, the Rangers broke out for 7 runs in game two, sweeping the Rays in the wild card round to advance to the ALDS in their first trip to the playoffs since 2016. After a strong game one, the rookie Carter made his mark on the series again in game two with his home run.
Rangers GM Chris Young said "I envisioned that we had a talented enough team to make the postseason and compete for a world championship. How that would play out and the highs and the lows and the ups and the downs that we've been through, if there's one thing I've learned, this team is resilient. They've got a lot of character and, and it's been fun watching them go out and earn these moments."
Adolis Garcia got the Rangers on the board in the 4th inning, hitting a solo home run to make it a 1-0 game. Jung then hit an RBI triple, scoring Leody Taveras to make it a 2-0 Rangers lead. Carter capped off the inning with a two run home run to right field, his first of the playoffs to make the score 4-0 in favor of Texas.
Corey Seager scored in the 5th inning on a groundout from Nathaniel Lowe to make it a 5-0 game. In the 6th, both Marcus Semien and Seager hit RBI doubles, bringing home two runs to push the lead to 7-0. In the 7th, Curtis Mead ended the shutout bid, getting the Rays on the board with an RBI single, making it a 7-1 score.
Seager said after the game that "It’s the resilience of at-bats, pitches, and competition. We've never gone down, we've never just gone away and rolled over. To be able to do that in big moments and calm the nerves and everything like we did in this series, it's really special."
Nathan Eovaldi had a big start for the Rangers, allowing one run on 6 hits, racking up 8 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Josh Sborz worked the next 1 1/3 innings before Jose Leclerc closed out the series win in the 9th inning.
As for the Rays, they have now been swept in consecutive wild card rounds, falling in two games to the Cleveland Guardians last season. Dating back to the 2021 ALDS against the Boston Red Sox, the Rays have lost 7 straight playoff games after making the World Series in 2020.
Zach Eflin pitched 5 innings for the Rays, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits and two walks. Colin Poche allowed two runs in one inning while giving up 3 hits. Shawn Armstrong worked a scoreless 7th inning before Zack Littell added two innings of shutout ball.
Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said "I mean, that does suck. You'd rather be playing your best ball in October than you would be throughout the rest of the year. But 162 is tough, man. You can't ever overlook the success we've had throughout those amount of games throughout the past few years. It sucks that we get in these situations and we just fell short the past couple years."
The Rangers get a bit of time off before the ALDS, travelling to Baltimore to face the AL East winning Orioles in the ALDS, with game one set for Saturday afternoon. The Rays enter another offseason of discontent earlier than planned.
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