The Rays made it interesting in the ninth, scoring a run off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz. But four solo homers by the Rangers, including three by Adrian Beltre, ended up being too much to overcome as Texas ended Tampa Bay’s season with a 4-3 victory.
The Rangers offense couldn’t do much all day, only logging six hits against Rays pitching. But four of those hits went over the fence, including one from Ian Kinsler to lead off the game. From the first moment of the game, the Rays had to play catch up against a game Matt Harrison, and it was just too much. Harrison only went five innings, but allowed just two runs on five hits and two walks, and struck out nine, which tied his season high set on September 18th against the Mariners.
Following Beltre’s first homer of the day in the second inning to make it 2-0, Tampa Bay got a run back, as Sean Rodriguez scored on a Matt Joyce double in the bottom half of the second, bowling over Rangers catcher Mike Napoli at the plate. The Rangers got that run back in the fourth on Beltre’s second homer of the day, but Tampa answered right back with a Casey Kotchman single to bring in Rodriguez again.
Then, it became a battle of the bullpens. Harrison was pulled after five due to a high pitch count (97 in those five innings), and Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson was pulled after just four and only 47 pitches, due to the three homers he allowed. Aside from that, Hellickson was fine. He struck out one, walked one, and allowed just one non-home run hit. But the three homers were an absolute killer for him.
To replace Hellickson, Joe Maddon pulled out his trump card: game one starter Matt Moore, who thoroughly dominated the Rangers in game one of the series. Moore went three innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out two. But the one hit was a big one: Beltre’s third homer of the day. The score was 4-2 going into the night, and Feliz was called on for the third straight game.
Feliz made it interesting. He walked Rodriguez, who took second on fielder’s indifference, and he was singled in by Kotchman for the second time in the game to make it a 4-3 game. Feliz then got Joyce to pop up and Desmond Jennings to ground out to end the game, and the series.
The Rangers bullpen did what GM Jon Daniels envisioned they would do when he upgraded it at the trade deadline. The pen went four innings, allowed just two hits and a walk, and struck out three. They were bolstered for the game with the additions of Derek Holland and Alexi Ogando, two starters. Ogando was working in relief for the series, while Holland started game two. Their presence today allowed manager Ron Washington to rest Koji Uehara and Mike Gonzalez.
Texas now advances to the ALCS, where they’ll play the winner of the Detroit-New York series, which could be determined tonight. Game one of the ALCS will be on Saturday. As for the Rays, a season that finished spectacularly comes to a close. The season has to be considered a success, as the team lopped $30 million off of its 2010 payroll, and still made the playoffs on the season’s final day.
