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.
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