Yesterday afternoon, the Texas Rangers surprised the Rays at home in front of just a few thousand spectators.
Tampa Bay was therefore trying to avoid elimination. For the occasion, Kevin Cash sent Zach Eflin, a little guy from the region. On the Rangers side, it was up to Nathan Eovaldi to close the books.
During the first two rounds, the two starters did not allow anything.
In the next round, the Rangers threatened. First, Josh Jung hit a double to left despite a good effort from Randy Arozarena. Evan Carter then drew a walk, but Marcus Semien hit into a double play afterwards.
After three innings, the score was still tied 0-0.
At the start of the fourth inning, Adolis Garcia gave his team the lead with a resounding home run to left field. His friend in the field could only admire the strike.
The Rangers opened the machine in the fourth. After taking the lead, Jung doubled the team’s lead with a triple.
The next batter was Evan Carter and he did this:
Moments later, after another scoreless inning allowed by Eovaldi, Texas scored another. Nate Lowe hit a grounder to the pitcher that brought in teammate Corey Seager.
It was 5-0 at that point.
Later, the two half-billion hitters proved why they are paid so much. Two consecutive doubles increased the lead to seven points.
Tampa Bay finally showed signs of life in the seventh. With two runners on, Curtis Mead singled.
Eovaldi therefore left the match after 6.2 excellent innings.
The Rangers finally held on against the second best team in the American.
Final score: 7-1.
What a series for the Rangers starters! They have been dominant and I can’t even imagine what the rotation would look like with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.
We’ll see if they can hold their own against the best team, the Orioles, in the ALDS. It will be quite a challenge!
After a very good season (99-63) and broken records, the season of Kevin Cash’s squad ended quite abruptly.
My colleagues, Pascal, Félix and Antoine were right in the end…
Texas will be in Baltimore on Saturday in the first game of their series. Any predictions for this series?
