Rays sweep Jays to advance to AL division series
ST.PETERSBURG,Fla.—Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam and the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays won a postseason series for the first time in 12 years, overpowering the young Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 Wednesday to finish a twogame sweep of their AL wildcard matchup.
Renfroe launched the first playoff grand slam in franchise history during a six-run second inning. Tyler Glasnow kept Tampa Bay ahead from there, allowing two runs — on a pair of homers by Danny Jansen — in six innings.
Mike Zunino hit a two-run homer off Blue Jays ace Hyun Jin Ryu during Tampa Bay's big inning. Manuel Margot and Randy Arozarena also drove in runs as the Rays advanced to the AL Division series against either the New York Yankees or Cleveland Indians.
The next round starts Monday at Petco Park in San Diego. Renfroe is plenty familiar with the stadium — he hit 85 home runs in the previous three years for the Padres before being tradedtotheRayslastDecember.
The Rays celebrated with some hugs and handshakes after the final out.
“We've been confident since Day One. So if we put the our heads down and just do what we've been doing and prepare like we've been preparing, the sky's the limit,” Glasnow said.
ASTROS 3, TWINS 1: Shaken up by a scandal before the virus outbreak shrunk the season, the Houston Astros barely played well enough to reach the playoffs — with the rest of baseball actively rooting against them.
Well,they'renotreadytoleave yet.
Carlos Correa hit a two-out, tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning for the Astros, who produced another stifling pitchingperformanceandsweptMinnesota over two games with a 3-1 victory that sent the Twins to a record 18th straight postseason loss.
“I know a lot of people are mad. I know a lot of people don't want to see us here,” Correa said. “But what are they going to say now?”
Nine months after Houston's rules-breaking, sign-stealing system was revealed, the Astros advanced to the Division Series in Los Angeles. As the sixth seed, they'll face the Oakland Athletics or Chicago White Sox in a bestof-fivematchupstartingMonday at Dodger Stadium.
BRAVES 1, REDS 0: Freddie Freeman singled home the winning run in the 13th inning, finally ending the longest scoreless duel in postseason history as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 in the opener of their NL wild-card series.
The East champion Braves won the first game of a postseason series for the first time since the 2001 NL Division Series and can wrap up the best-of-three series on Thursday.Iftheydo,itwillsnapa record-tying streak of 10 straight playoff round losses.
MARLINS 5, CUBS 1: Corey Dickerson hit a three-run homer offafadingKyleHendricksinthe seventh inning, and Miami beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Wednesday in Game 1 of their NL wild-card series.
Jesus Aguilar also homered and Sandy Alcantara pitched three-hit ball into the seventh as Miami conjured up memories of past playoff magic in the franchise's first postseason game since it won the World Series in 2003. The Marlins, who rallied past the Cubs in a memorable NLCS that year, have never lost a playoff series.
This year's Marlins weren't supposed to make the playoffs, not after losing 105 games in 2019 and dealing with a coronavirusoutbreakearlythisseason.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Thursday.