Rangers cruise to sweep over Rays, 7-1

Field Level Media|published: Wed 4th October, 17:57 2023

Oct 4, 2023; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) hits a ground rule double against the Tampa Bay Rays in the sixth inning during game two of the Wildcard series for the 2023 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field. credits: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Nathan Eovaldi tossed 6 2/3 strong innings to fuel the Texas Rangers to a sweep of their American League wild-card series on Wednesday, courtesy of a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Evan Carter belted a two-run homer and Adolis Garcia also went deep for the fifth-seeded Rangers, who advanced to face the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Division Series. Game 1 of the best-of-five series is Saturday in Baltimore.

Texas' Josh Jung ripped an RBI triple among his three hits and Marcus Semien and Corey Seager had back-to-back RBI doubles. Seager recorded his second straight two-hit performance of the series.

The offense was more than enough for Eovaldi (1-0), who allowed one run on six hits and struck out eight without walking a batter.

He exited after surrendering Curtis Mead's RBI single to left field with two outs in the seventh inning. Josh Sborz induced rookie Junior Caminero to fly out to end the threat.

Sborz pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Jose Leclerc retired the side in the ninth to hand the fourth-seeded Rays their second straight sweep in the AL wild-card series in as many years. Tampa Bay, which dropped a 4-0 decision in the series opener on Tuesday, mustered just one run in 24 innings in last year's loss to the Cleveland Guardians.

Texas opened the scoring with a four-run outburst in the fourth inning.

Garcia deposited a 1-1 cutter from Zach Eflin (0-1) over the wall in left field to lead off the fourth inning. Eflin retired the next two batters before Leody Taveras singled and stole second before coming around to score on Jung's triple to right field.

Jung was able to trot home after Carter sent a first-pitch cutter from Eflin over the wall in right-center field to stake the Rangers to a 4-0 lead.

Seager scored on a groundout in the fifth inning before Texas tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Jung hit a one-out ground-rule double and Semien and Seager followed with consecutive doubles.

Eflin took the loss after permitting five runs (four earned) on eight hits in five innings.

—Field Level Media

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