The Tampa Bay Rays are on their way to the 2013 A.L. Wild Card Game after defeating the Texas Rangers, 5-2 on Monday. It was Game 163 and Evan Longoria and David Price made sure it was the Rangers' last game of the 2013 season.
Longoria, who connected on his seventh home run of the Rays' last regular season game, went 3-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. He fell a triple shy of the cycle. It seemed that whenever Longoria reached, the Rays were scoring.
They struck first in the first inning on a sac-fly by Delmon Young. The rays were able to get to youngster Martin Perez early on as they stringed a walk and consecutive hits to load up the bases. Young smacked a flyball scoring Myers from third.
Longoria struck again in the third inning with an opposite-field two-run home run, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead, which was enough for Price to settle in comfortably. He pitched a complete game, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, a walk and four strikeouts. Two of these runners who reached base on Price were gunned down at first base as the Cy Young Award winner flashed some defense, picking off base runners at first base.
The Rangers struck in the bottom of the third as Ian Kinsler drove in Craig Gentry on a line drive to right field. They got on the board again in the bottom of the sixth as Alex Rios made his postseason presence with his ball club, smacking a double high off the left field wall, scoring shortstop Elvis Andrus.
Another player making a difference in his new ball club was David DeJesus, who added a run in the top of the six, driving in Longoria, who had reached base on a double. The move for DeJesus was pretty low key, but it paid its dividends in this Game 163.
Next up, the Rays will face the Cleveland Indians in the A.L. Wild Card Game, scheduled to be played on Wednesday in Progressive Field. The Rays went 4-2 against the Indians in 2013.
