ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays are back for Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday. You can watch the game on WFAA. Make sure to re-scan your TV if you're watching via antenna for the best possible picture.
The Texas Rangers came into this Wild Card series as underdogs to the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays, a squad that held the best home record in the American League and had only lost two series at Tropicana Field since the start of August.
But the Rangers have been a good team in 2023 as well and they did what good teams should do – take advantage of mistakes, pitch well and make plays. In doing so, they won Game 1, 4-0, and are one victory away from taking on the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Division Series.
Texas Rangers (1-0) @ Tampa Bay Rays (0-1), 2:08 PM CST. Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida. Broadcast on ABC - WFAA
Where we stand
The Evan Carter Show – Evan Carter played in just 23 Major League games before Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series. With his composure and impact on display all over the field, though, Carter carried himself like a seasoned veteran in his playoff debut.
The nation’s first playoff look at the 21-year old Carter was him diving to make an incredible tumbling catch to end a first-inning threat that prevented two runs from scoring. Carter was also perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two doubles, two walks, a stolen base, and a run scored, making for an historic postseason debut.
Carter now holds the distinction of being the youngest player in MLB history to reach base safely four times in his first playoff game. With a right-hander on the mound for Tampa Bay in Game 2, Carter is expected to be in the lineup again on Wednesday.
Fish out of water on defense – The Tampa Bay Rays were the 6th best defensive team in the American League by errors and fielding percentage. They did not look the part in Game 1. With three errors through the first three innings, and four on the day to go along with several plays that were not made that were not scored as errors, the Rays allowed the Rangers to put traffic on the basepaths.
Although only one of the errors directly led to a run being scored, as the Rangers managed to leave 13 men on base, the gaffes by Tampa Bay made starter Tyler Glasnow’s afternoon that much longer, on a day when he didn’t have his best command.
Conversely, the Rangers played mostly sterling baseball. Outside of a fumbled fielding attempt from Carter that turned a single into two bases, but did not lead to a run, the Rangers made the easy plays calmly and made the spectacular plays look easy, with Carter, Josh Jung, Nathaniel Lowe, and others making big plays to back up Jordan Montgomery in Texas’ shutout effort.
The Game 2 matchup
RHP Nathan Eovaldi (12-5, 3.63 ERA) vs RHP Zach Eflin (16-8, 3.50 ERA)
Texas would love for Nathan Eovaldi to be pre-injury Nathan Eovaldi, a top-of-the-rotation hurler that was the American League’s Pitcher of the Month of May and an All-Star performer. They need him to be better than he has been of late, however.
Since returning at the start of September from a right forearm strain suffered at the end of July, Eovaldi hasn’t been the performer that fronted the rotation for most of the seasons. Part of that was due to ramping back up to a starter’s workload, as the de facto ace of the staff returned to action without rehab starts under his belt. Part of it is potentially also pitching around his injury or the season’s workload catching up to him.
Eovaldi’s return could have been sooner than September 5th, but there were a couple of setbacks as he tried to navigate through his injury. In six games in September, Eovaldi posted a 9.30 ERA, giving up seven home runs and walking 13 over 20 ⅓ innings. In his last two starts of the season, the righty gave up 12 runs in 8 ⅓ innings while the team was still fighting for the division.
One positive sign for Texas is the velocity of Eovaldi’s pitches trended up in his final start of the regular season.
The Eovaldi that beat the Rays in July threw six innings of shutout ball and allowed two hits but that was his final start before hitting the injured list. That’s the Eovaldi that needs to be on the mound at The Trop. If not, there are some innings to be had for Andrew Heaney and Martin Perez, but Texas would rather follow the formula from Game 1 – seven innings from the starter to keep things at a minimum for the bullpen.
Opposing Eovaldi on the mound in Game 2 will be Zach Eflin. The former Philadelphia Phillie also landed on the IL early in the year with back tightness, but since then has been one of the big reasons that Tampa Bay is a playoff team. His September, however, has been nearly as rocky as Eovaldi’s, despite a clean bill of health. Eflin gave up runs in every start in September, recording just one quality start in the month.
The righty avoided Texas both times the clubs faced each other and Eflin has faced the Rangers just once in his career. That was a start in 2017, and the then 23-year old gave up seven runs on 11 hits in four innings. That was a different time, but this Rangers offense certainly has the potential to bring back bad memories for Eflin.
What to Avoid or Continue
Avoid: Leaving runners on – Yes, the Rangers had a lot of traffic on the basepaths in Game 1, courtesy of the Rays’ faulty defense and drawing six walks. But Texas could have enjoyed a more comfortable win than the 4-0 final score.
The team went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, leaving 13 on base. Specifically, in the top of the 5th, Texas loaded the bases on a double, walk, and single to start the frame. Corey Seager would then score on a wild pitch after a pop-out and then Texas re-loaded the bases on another walk. Two strikeouts later, though, and the wild pitch produced the only run that the Rangers could muster out of two bases-loaded, less than two-out situations.
It’s been a problem area at times all year but the Rangers need to find hits with RISP if they’re going to put away the Rays.
Continue: Drawing walks – Texas worked six walks over the course of Game 1. The strategy going into the game was to get as many pitches out of starter Tyler Glasnow as quickly as possible to try to wear down a Rays pitching staff that only carried 11 of 13 possible pitchers on their 26-man Wild Card roster.
That strategy worked perfectly, as Glasnow threw 98 pitches and was only able to complete five innings of work as the Rays needed four innings from three relievers to finish the game.
Avoid: Using Chapman – The Rangers got seven shutout innings from starter Jordan Montgomery in Game 1 which was a boon as it allowed them to avoid using the soft underbelly of their much-maligned bullpen. However, since the game was still relatively close at 4-0 in the 8th, manager Bruce Bochy opted to use mercurial reliever Aroldis Chapman to prevent the Rays from getting back in the game.
That worked on Tuesday as Chapman pitched a spotless frame on just 14 pitches. However, Bochy should consider the Chapman bullet expended for Wednesday as the left-handed heat-thrower has been terrible on the second day of back-to-back appearances this season. Chapman had an ERA of 1.98 on a day or more of rest, and 8.68 on no rest.
The last time the Rangers tried to make it work with Chapman on a second day in a row, the former closer couldn’t record an out in a 2-1 game in the 9th as the save situation was blown in the series opener against Seattle over the season’s final weekend.
Continue: Aggressive baserunning – Texas was not a baserunning machine during the regular season, with only the Los Angeles Angels stealing fewer bases in the American League. In Game 1, however, the Rangers had to manufacture runs without the benefit of a long ball.
The first run of the game came via smart base running as Josh Jung sliced a ball to right field as Leody Taveras was attempting to steal second base. Randy Arozarena caught the ball and tried to pick Taveras back off at first, while Nathaniel Lowe took the opportunity to tag and score from third.
The Rangers stole two bases on the day as well. Though they were conservative on an opportunity to send Jonah Heim home on an Evan Carter double earlier in the game, aggressive baserunning puts pressure on the other team to make plays and can lead to mistakes, as the Rays often suffered in Game 1.
27 outs stand between the Rangers and a trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for a best-of-5 Division Series.
Do you think the Rangers will take Game 2 and move on to the ALDS in Baltimore? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.