Texas Rangers advance to ALDS with wild-card sweep of Tampa Bay Rays

Just like that, the Rays’ season is over.

The first series of the 2023 MLB postseason concluded Wednesday, with the Rangers taking back-to-back games against the Rays in the best-of-three wild-card set. It’s on to the ALDS for Texas.

No. 5 Rangers at No. 4 Rays, Game 2: Rangers 7, Rays 1

Game summary:

On Wednesday, the Rangers were hitting doubles against the Rays the way Oprah Winfrey used to give out cars on her talk show. Corey Seager and Josh Jung each hit two doubles, and Marcus Semien added another to help Texas win its wild-card series and advance to the American League Division Series against the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles.

This was the Rangers’ first postseason appearance since 2016, and it’s their first playoff series win since they defeated the Detroit Tigers in the 2011 ALCS. Texas came into this matchup having dropped its previous four series in the postseason.

The rout was on early at Tropicana Field, as the Rangers scored seven runs between the fourth and sixth innings. Six players recorded RBI for Texas: team home run leader Adolis Garcia, Jung, Seager, Semien, Evan Carter and Nathaniel Lowe. On the mound, Nathan Eovaldi was outstanding in his 6⅔ innings, allowing six hits and one run while striking out eight without allowing any walks.

Tampa Bay flirted with tying the dubious all-time record for longest postseason innings scoreless streak, which sits at 34. The Rays had put up zeros in 33 straight playoff innings before Curtis Mead’s single in the bottom of the seventh brought home Josh Lowe, scoring Tampa Bay’s only run of the wild-card round.

Key moment:

El Bombi has joined the postseason chat. After three scoreless innings, Garcia got Texas’ offensive started with a no-doubt, 416-foot, leadoff home run to put the Rangers ahead.

Reinforcements then arrived after Zach Eflin retired the next two batters. Leody Taveras singled and stole second. Jung scored Taveras and reached third on a fly ball to right field that Josh Lowe narrowly missed. Then Carter launched a 391-foot home run into the stands, giving Texas a 4-0 lead.

Impact player:

If there were an MVP awarded at the end of a wild-card series, the answer here would be Seager. He came into the game with three hits, including a double and a home run, in seven at bats against Elfin. And in Game 2, he immediately showed off his familiarity with the pitcher, hitting a double to deep center field in the first inning.

After that, the Rays chose to intentionally walk the shortstop in the third. Still, he wasn’t finished, reaching base in the fifth on a throwing error by Rays second baseman Mead and eventually coming around to score Texas’ fifth run.

Finally, in the sixth, Seager hit his third double of this postseason to score Semien and put the finishing touches on the Rangers’ offensive output.

What’s next?

With the win Wednesday, the Rangers clinched their ticket to the ALDS. They’ll face the Orioles in Game 1 on Saturday in Baltimore. Game time is set for 1 p.m. ET, and starting pitchers are still to be announced.