ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — If the Rangers' Game 1 win was taking what the Rays gave them, then Game 2 was the Rangers taking what they wanted.
Texas blasted past Tampa Bay for a 7-1 win to clinch the American League Wild Card Series in a two-game sweep, getting more star power from their top rookies and a bounceback outing from the veteran starter Nathan Eovaldi.
The Rangers will now head to the American League Division Series, where they'll play the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles, starting Saturday in Baltimore. Texas' first home game of the postseason will come Tuesday in Game 3.
But for now, the club will spend a day or two relishing in a dominant showing against the Rays.
Texas won 4-0 on Tuesday, getting a huge benefit from four errors from the Rays. On Wednesday, the Rays' defense wasn't much better. But Texas' bats were fully alive.
Adolis Garcia homered in the fourth inning to put the Rangers up 1-0. Josh Jung followed with a triple, scoring Leody Taveras. And then Evan Carter, the 21-year-old rookie who has starred for Texas, hit a two-run homer to score Jung.
The Rangers added another run in the fifth, and two more in the sixth, thanks to back-to-back doubles from top-of-order stars Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.
Seager had also doubled in the first inning but was left stranded on base.
Eovaldi looked like his old self for the first time since returning to the Rangers in September after being on the Injured List for about six weeks.
The veteran righty took a shutout into the seventh inning, going 6.2 innings and giving up one run. Josh Sborz relieved Eovaldi in the seventh with runners on first and second. Sborz got Junior Caminero to fly out to left field to end the inning.
Sborz pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Jose Leclerc took over in the ninth and allowed a single and a double, putting runners at second and third with one out. Leclerc then struck out the next two batters to seal the win.
The series win marked just the fifth all-time for the Rangers, who won two series in each of the 2010 and 2011 postseasons but had Division Series exits in 2015 and 2016.
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