Sweet Sweep! Texas Rangers Trounce Tampa Bay Rays, Win First Playoff Series Since 2011

The Texas Rangers received a heroic performance from starter Nathan Eovoladi and the offense erupted with eight extra-base hits.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Texas Rangers are still alive and thriving.

The Rangers swept the Tampa Bay Rays in their best-of-3 Wild Card Series with a 7-1 win Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

Texas, the fifth of six seeds in the American League playoffs, begins their best-of-5 AL Division Series against the AL East champion Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Saturday. The Orioles won an AL-best 101 games.

It's the Rangers' first postseason series win since winning the ALCS in 2011.

The Rangers had a tame on-field celebration after the win.

“We’re not done yet,” said Josh Jung, who had three extra-base hits. “We won this series, it’s a big win for us and our franchise, but we have more we want to accomplish.”

The Rangers, who were 90-72, erupted with a four-run power surge in the fourth inning and then clobbered the Rays with a barrage of doubles for a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Texas collected 12 hits, including a club-record eight extra-base hits.

Adolis Garcia had a solo homer to start the scoring in the fourth and after Jung's run-scoring triple, Evan Carter hit a two-run homer to give Texas a 4-0 lead.

Corey Seager reached on an error in the fifth and later scored on Nathaniel Lowe's groundout to make it 5-0. Jung, Semien and Seager all doubled to add two more runs in the sixth and give Nathan Eovaldi a 7-0 cushion.

“Hitting is contagious” Jung said. “When balls start falling everyone kinda gets juiced up.”

Eovaldi was masterful over 6 2/3 innings. He held the Rays to one run on six hits, struck out eight, and walked none. Josh Sborz took over for the final out in the seventh after Curtis Mead's single scored Josh Lowe. Sborz pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless ninth.

Rangers 7, Rays 1

Here are the key takeaways from Game 2 at Tropicana Field:

Rangers Pitching Sets Club Record

Rangers pitchers held the Rays scoreless for a club postseason record 15 consecutive innings. Texas' previous best stretch was 14 innings across Games 1-2-3 of the 2010 ALDS against the Rays.

Evan Carter Continues Historic Pace

Rookie Evan Carter is the youngest Rangers player with a postseason home run at 21 years and 36 days. He's only the second Texas rookie to homer in the postseason. Mitch Moreland did in 2010.

Carter walked in his first plate appearance Wednesday to reach base in his first five career postseason plate appearances with three walks and two doubles. It's tied for the second-longest span in MLB history to begin a postseason career. Only the Cubs' Jorge Soler had a longer streak. He reached his first nine plate appearances in the 2015 NLDS against the Cardinals, according to Elias Sports.

Carter is also the youngest in MLB history to reach safely in his first five career postseason plate appearances. The previous youngest was Cleveland's Josh Naylor (age 23.100). He reached in his five appearances in the 2020 AL Wild Card against the Yankees.

Extra-Helping Of Extra-Base Hits

The Rangers' eight extra-base hits Wednesday (two homers, five doubles, one triple) are a postseason single-game club record. The previous high was seven extra-base hits in the 2010 ALCS Game 2 against the Yankees.

Josh Jung Joins Select Group

Josh Jung joined a select group of Texas Rangers sluggers on Wednesday. Jung collected three extra-base hits (two doubles and a triple) to join Adrian Adrián Beltré, Nelson Cruz, and Michael Young as the only players in club history to record three or more extra-base hits in a postseason game.

Beltre had three homers in the 2011 ALDS Game 4 against the Rays. Cruz had two homers and a double in the 2011 ALCS Game 2 against the Tigers. Young had a homer and two doubles in the 2011 ALCS Game 6 against the Tigers.

Jon Gray Earns Honor

Rangers pitcher Jon Gray was named one of two Bob Feller Act of Valor Award winners before Wednesday's game. Former Red Sox and White Sox Carlton Fisk was also honored by the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award Foundation. Both Gray and Fisk will be honored on Nov. 15 during a ceremony at the United States Navy Memorial in Washington D.C. They'll be joined by recipients from the Navy and Marine Corps.

The awards honor the legacy of National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who made the selfless decision to put his career in MLB on hold to serve our country. The honorees selected possess the values, integrity, and dedication to serving our country that Bob Feller himself displayed.

Up Next

The Rangers open the ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles, who won the AL East with an AL-best 101 wins. The series starts with Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday at Camden Yards.

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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