Rangers Smash Rays To Join ALCS
It was all about Lee on Tuesday night, he helped Rangers make history
Tropicana Field has just hosted history moments on Tuesday night. Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 to to win a playoff series for the first time. It was a decisive Game 5 where Cliff Lee struck out 11 in a six-hitter for his second win over Rays ace David Price. Now, the Rangers will host defending champion Yankees in the opener of the best of seven in the American League Championship Series. Texas dominated from the very beginning. At first, it was Hamilton who grounded out to first as Andrus scored for 1-0 in the first inning. The third inning saw Rangers leveled as Zobrist singled to center and Rodriguez scored. It was also the moment when Rangers simply started to dominate. The score went 2-1 in the fourth, 3-1 in the sixth and finally 5-1 in the ninth.
Lee seemed pretty cool in the end to claim ‘it was a lot of fun’ in the field, although exhausted. “We had our back against the wall today and we came out and performed.” Three of the previous playoff appearances ended badly for the Rangers. They have lost every first round to New York in 1996, ’98 and ’99. Lee instead beat the Yanks twice last year in the world series for Philadelphia. “They’re a great team and that’s why they are where they are. They’re going to be a good challenge, just like these guys,” Lee, who improved to 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA plus three complete games in seven career postseason starts, said. Rangers’ manager Ron Washington looked aware of his team giving its best so that nothing could go any better. “I don’t think you can ask any more of a guy.” Although they had the AL’s best record this season, Rays lost all the three games at Tropicana Field as their best were only two runs. “David pitched fine. We made too many spring training mistakes. I want to congratulate the Rangers. Spectacular achievement they put forth this season,” is what Rays’ manager Joe Maddon said.
This was Rangers’ first victory in the 50-season history of the franchise. Kinsler batter .444, plus three homers and six RBIs in the series. Meanwhile, slugger Josh Hamilton expects for more. “It’s unbelievable. Something we’re proud of because it’s never happened in Texas before. Hopefully, we can take it to the next level,” he said. Lee seems to be more used with the ALC. The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner beat Price 5-1 by allowing five hits in the series opener to fan Rays slugger Carlos Pena six of the seven times they met in the series. Washington is must be very thankful to him. “We got him to help us win ballgames. We also got him to do what he did tonight. But he can’t do it by himself, and the guys backed him up. They put runs on the board. They played their hearts out.”
Everyone knew it was all about Cliff Lee. “We had some aggressive baserunning tonight and Kins hit a big home run in the ninth. But this was all Cliff Lee. When we scored that second run, you could see the look in his eye change,” said Young, while Lee said he expected to have success in Texas. “I expected to pitch well. I just didn’t necessarily expect to allow one run and go nine innings.” Rays’ third baseman Evan Longoria acknowledged team’s limit in front of Rangers, especially in front of the same Lee. “We just couldn’t get anything going.” Andrus, who led off the first with a single to right, he stole second on a 2-1 pitch to Hamilton. “I was just playing baseball the way we played all year. That’s what we need to do. Play hard and play aggressive,” this said. Rays’ Ben Zobrist went an RBI single in the third inning, but Rangers came from behind to start shaping the history. “There are nights when we’ve got to power our way through it and there are nights when we do it that way,” manager Washington said.
Kinsler followed Guerrero who scored his run in the sixth after reaching on a one-out single to advance to second on Cruz’s infield hit. As Price went to the umpire to complain about something, Guerrero rounded third to dash for home. But when Price threw home, it was a bit high and off the plate to allow thus Guerrero slide in head-first for the run. “That’s three runs right there that’s typically the kind of runs we score. So that was the part of it that was a little bit maddening. But they played well, they played hard, they came back after two big losses in Texas. You have to give them a lot of credit,” Rays manager Maddon said.
