Adolis Garcia and Evan Carter hit home runs to support Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 on Wednesday, sweeping this first-round series in two games in the American.
Garcia and Carter, a 20-year-old rookie, stretched their arms against Zach Eflin, who has 16 wins this season.
Texas will face the East Division champions, the Baltimore Orioles, in the second round. The series begins Saturday at 1 p.m. at Camden Yards.
The Rangers showed resilience after losing 102 games two years ago. They also lost three of four games in the last series, against the Seattle Mariners, thereby losing the West Division title.
“It’s all about bouncing back and dealing with tough times,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. You know you’re going to get it.
“What’s important is how you handle those moments, and the guys handled them so well,” Bochy added. I think we were left behind earlier in the season or at the end of August… but what a job they did to bounce back and occupy this position. »
The Rays’ postseason scoreless streak reached 33 innings, one short of the record set by the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1966 and 1974.
Curtis Mead broke it by driving in a run with a single in the seventh.
The Rangers won a playoff series for the first time since 2011, when they reached the World Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.
This season, the Rays improved to 13-0 to tie the 1982 Atlanta Braves and the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. Only the St. Louis Maroons did better in 1884, with a 20-0 start. .
The Florida team had led its section since the first day of the season when the Orioles beat it in mid-July.
Swept in the first round for the second year in a row, the Rays totaled two runs in those four games, hitting .161.
Eovaldi allowed one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings, while striking out eight batters.
Garcia’s home run, leadoff in the fourth, led to four runs in the inning. Josh Jung hit a scoring triple and Carter had a two-run homer for the Rangers, who are 7-0 in the playoffs in St. Petersburg.
Carter is hitting .306 with five homers and 12 RBIs in 23 games since his major league debut on September 8.
He hit the field in his first six at-bats in the playoffs, including two doubles and three walks.
There were only 20,198 fans at Tropicana Field.
Zac Gallen rallied after a rough start as the Arizona Diamondbacks swept their first-round series against the Milwaukee Brewers, putting the finishing touches on with a 5-2 win.
Two years after suffering 110 losses in a season, the Diamondbacks reached the second round for the first time since 2017. They will face the Dodgers starting Saturday in Los Angeles.
“In 2022, you kind of saw the change at the end of the year, and then we went into this campaign hoping to do that,” Gallen said. We were expecting to play in October. »
NL Central champions, the Brewers have lost nine of their last 10 playoff games, a streak that began with Game 7 of the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers in 2018.
“The playoffs are tough to win,” conceded Brewers manager Craig Counsell.
The focus in Milwaukee will now turn to the future of Counsell, who has been manager of the club since 2015. In the last six seasons under his reign, the team has made the playoffs five times.
The main person concerned, however, refused to answer questions about his future.
“It’s not for tonight,” he said simply.
Ketel Marte gave the D’Backs a 3-2 lead with a two-run single in the sixth. Freddy Peralta faltered after a great start, allowing four runs in that inning.
The Brewers still attempted a late push.
They loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but 26-year-old rookie Andrew Saalfrank preserved Arizona’s 5-2 lead with a remarkable performance in relief.
When Sal Frelick hit the ball toward the mound, Saalfrank struck out Christian Yelich at the plate. Willy Adames then hit the middle of the field, but Marte was perfectly positioned to catch the ball behind second base and stepped on the pad to get the third out.
The Brewers then put runners on second and third base in the ninth after a Yelich double with two outs, but Paul Sewald struck out William Contreras to end the series.
The Brewers’ night started better than it ended.
Peralta was hitless in 4 2/3 innings as his teammates built a 2-0 lead on a Frelick sacrifice fly and Adames single.
The Diamondbacks got their first hit to safety thanks to Alek Thomas, who homered in the fifth. Peralta was unable to recover.
Marlins 1 — Phillies 7
Bryson Stott hit the second grand slam in Phillies postseason history in a 7-1 victory. The Philadelphia team swept the Miami Marlins in two games to reach the second round.
After quickly dismissing the Marlins, the Phillies will have to slow down the Atlanta Braves, whom they defeated in the playoffs last year despite a 14-game deficit in the regular season.
J. T. Realmuto also homered, while the Phillies will once again face Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson and the Braves. The first match is scheduled for Saturday in Atlanta.
Stott made one of the memorable plays of the playoffs when he hit reliever Andrew Nardi’s first pitch in the sixth. The ball landed in the right field bleachers, giving the Phillies a 7-0 lead.
Aaron Nola followed up Zack Wheeler’s excellent Game 1 performance with a noteworthy outing.
The only problem with Nola, who will be able to enjoy full autonomy after the World Series, is that he has difficulty ending innings.
After Realmuto gave his team a 3-0 lead, Nola found himself in a difficult situation in the fifth. He put runners on first and second before forcing Jesus Sanchez to commit with a grounder good for the double play.
The Marlins’ only run came in the ninth on Josh Bell’s productive single.