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COMEBACK: Evan Longoria hit two doubles and a two-run homer on Sunday to lead the Tampa Bay Rays over the Texas Rangers 5�¢ï¿½ï¿½2. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
After dropping the first two games against baseball’s only franchise that has never won a postseason series, the Tampa Bay Ray’s comeback against the Texas Rangers is in full swing. On Sunday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, the Rays beat the Rangers 5–2 to tie the series 2–2 and force a decisive Game 5 in Tampa on Tuesday.
Had Texas pulled off the “W” it would have been a major upset—the Rays entered the postseason with the best record in the AL, beating out the Yankees in the final week of regular season play.
But the Rays led from the start at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, with Carlos Pena scoring in the top of the second off a fielding error by Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler.
Kinsler backpedaled on a fly ball from Matt Joyce but misjudged the distance and dropped the ball. Pena got on base previously with a triple to center field off Rangers starting pitcher Tommy Hunter, who took the loss.
Then in the fourth inning, the Rays silenced the crowd with back-to-back doubles from Evan Longoria and Pena to start the inning.
Longoria’s run put the Rays up 2–0 and signaled that the slugger was back in action after recovering from a strained right quadricep and having had little impact in the series thus far.
After two outs and on a 2–0 count, B.J. Upton hit the third double of the inning to send Pena in for another run.
The Rangers hadn’t had two hits in an inning until the bottom of the fifth, with catcher Bengie Molina hitting a lead-off single to get the offense going.
After two outs, Michael Young hit another single, and then Rays starter Wade Davis walked Josh Hamilton to load the bases and give the Rangers their biggest threat yet.
Davis met the challenge head on though, striking out Vladimir Guerrero to end the inning with no Rangers runs making it in.
Longoria then struck again in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-run homer to left field.
Longoria was clearly still hurting as he ran the bases but that didn’t seem to be hampering his hitting. The 5–0 lead sealed the Rays win, though the Rangers would score two in a lengthy bottom of the sixth inning.
Nelson Cruz hit a lead-off homer in the sixth to right field that bounced off the top of the wall and into the stands.
Kinsler chased that with a line drive single to right field, prompting Joe Maddon to replace Davis with left-hander Randy Choate. Davis would get the win, delivering seven strikeouts along the way.
Choate got one out before being replaced by Grant Balfour, who got another out before giving up a double to Mitch Moreland that brought Kinsler home for the Rangers second run.
The game was scoreless after the sixth, but Longoria would have one more double in the top of the eighth.
The Rays bullpen retired the last nine Rangers batters with Rafael Soriano closing out the game like he did Saturday.
The winner on Tuesday will face the Yankees in the AL Championship Series that starts Friday.
The Yankees were the only team to sweep their division series with their 6–1 rout of the Minnesota Twins on Saturday and now have plenty of time to rest up.
