The Tampa Bay Rays avoided elimination for a second time on the road by beating the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Sunday to level their AL Division Series and send it back home for a decisive Game Five.
The Rays, who lost the first two games of the series at Tropicana Park, enjoyed a productive one-two punch in clean-up hitter Evan Longoria and No.5 batter Carlos Pena to back a solid ensemble pitching performance.
Longoria belted a two-run homer and also doubled ahead of a fourth-inning double by Pena, who added a triple and scored two runs. Starter Wade Davis gave up two runs in five innings, and four relievers shut out Texas the rest of the way on one hit.
The winner of Tuesday’s Game Five at Tropicana Park will play the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series with a World Series berth at stake.
“I’m glad to see the guys swing the bat as a team,” Pena said. “This is fun.”
Longoria, still hobbled by a leg injury that sidelined him last month, told reporters he liked Tampa Bay’s chances.
“We’ve really battled to get back to even in the series,” he said. “I think we have a lot of confidence going home and being able to finish the series in our home ball park.”
Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington took some consolation in being able to hand the ball to ace left-hander Cliff Lee, who struck out 10 in winning the series opener and who went 4-0 last year in the playoffs while with Philadelphia.
“When we started it was a five-game series. We took two at their place and they took two here. It’s down to one game,” he said. “We’ve got Cliff going and we certainly feel good about it.”
Lee will start against Rays’ lefty David Price in a mound rematch that went in favor of Texas 5-1 last week.
The Rays, who scored one run in the first two games before winning Saturday’s Game Three 6-3, jumped out to a 5-0 in another do-or-die test on Sunday.
Tampa Bay scored an unearned run off Texas starter Tommy Hunter in the second inning when Pena hit a one-out triple and scored when second baseman Ian Kinsler failed to catch a pop-up hit by Matt Joyce.
Doubles by Longoria, Pena and B.J. Upton produced two runs in the fourth and Longoria put two more runs on the scoreboard with a home run in the fifth off reliever Derek Holland.
Texas scored their runs in the sixth inning on a lead-off home run by Nelson Cruz and a bloop double down the right-field line by Mitch Moreland.
Rays manager Joe Maddon preached to his team the importance of home field advantage when Tampa Bay outfought New York for the AL East title and best record in the American League.
“I still want to believe there is a home field advantage and hope it shows up on Tuesday,” he said.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set