Texas slugger Michael Young smacked a three-run home run to help power the Rangers past Tampa Bay 6-0 on Thursday and put the team on the brink of its first playoff series triumph.
Texas pitcher C.J. Wilson surrendered only two hits with seven strikeouts and only two walks in six-and-two-thirds innings, while Ian Kinsler added a homer and a run-scoring single to power the visitors in a romp.
“He really showed maturity out there today,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “He stayed within himself, he used all his pitches. He went around the strike zone with it. He never really got shaken. He bent a little bit, but he didn’t break, and that’s exactly what we needed. We needed him to go out there and give us a good outing, and he did.”
In the other AL series, Lance Berkman homered and hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning and Andy Pettitte added another playoff win to his resume, as the New York Yankees posted a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins to take a 2-0 series lead.
The Rangers seized a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five first-round American League series and could end their status as Major League Baseball’s only franchise never to win a playoff series in game three at home today.
“They’ve pitched really well against us,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. “I thought yesterday we actually swung the bats a lot better, hit a lot of balls more on the nose for outs. Today it wasn’t the case. We did not really drive the ball at all. We had a couple minor chances, but we just have to do better than that.”
The Texas franchise began life as the Washington Senators in 1961 and moved to Texas a decade later. They finally reached the playoffs in 1996 and did so again in 1998 and 1999, but failed to advance on any of their chances.
Young blasted his homer with one out in the fifth on the first pitch after a controversial call on a pitch that could have struck him out.
Young checked up on his swing on a 2-ball, 2-strike offering from Tampa Bay relief pitcher Chad Qualls. Home plate umpire Jim Wolf appealed to first base umpire Jerry Meals, who said Young held up in time and not made a third strike.
That sparked complaints from the Rays dugout that were louder moments later after Young belted the homer for the 5-0 Texas lead.
Maddon went to the mound to speak with Qualls after the homer and yelled at Meals. When Wolf came to the mound, Maddon argued with him and Wolf ejected Maddon from the game.
Wolf also sparked complaints from Tampa Bay’s Kelly Shoppach in the seventh inning after a strikeout call after the catcher had started walking to first base, thinking the ball was low and outside of the strike zone.
Shoppach waved his hands and shouted at Wolf as he walked to the bench, leaving two runners in scoring position for the Rays, who ended up leaving the bases loaded without pushing home a run.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Matt Treanor scored on an error and doubled the margin when Kinsler smacked a solo homer off James Shields with two out in the fourth.
Young followed with his three-run blast in the fifth and Texas stretched the lead to 6-0 later in the fifth with a Kinsler single scored Vladimir Guerrero.
In Minneapolis, New York pitcher Pettitte was superb in collecting his 19th playoff win. Pettitte put down 12 Twins in a row at one point, while allowing two runs on five hits through seven innings.
“The biggest part is being able to control your emotions. You hope you get that tunnel vision nothing is going to faze you or make you nervous,” Pettitte said.
Curtis Granderson was also key for New York with three hits, an RBI and a run scored, helping the club to its eighth consecutive playoff win over Minnesota. Twins pitcher Carl Pavano allowed 10 hits in six-plus innings to take the loss.
Game three is scheduled for today with New York’s Phil Hughes set to make his first postseason start opposite lefty Brian Duensing.
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