Montgomery sparkles, Rangers beat Rays in AL Wild Card Series opener
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. >> Jordan Montgomery scattered six hits over seven innings, helping the Texas Rangers beat the sloppy Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 Tuesday in their AL Wild Card Series opener.
Corey Seager and Josh Jung drove in runs and the Rangers benefitted from four errors by the Rays, who also fizzled offensively before a crowd of just 19,704 — roughly 5,300 below listed capacity — at Tropicana Field.
Texas moved within a victory of a AL Division Series matchup against Baltimore.
Tampa Bay, wearing throwback Devil Rays jerseys in the style of 19982000, lost its sixth straight postseason game since winning its 2021 Division Series opener against Boston. The Rays have reached the postseason for the fifth straight season but have one run in their last three playoff defeats, hitting .133.
Montgomery, a 30-yearold left-hander acquired from St. Louis at the trade deadline, retired 14 of hos last 16 batters. He fanned pinch hitter Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay's top minor league prospect, to end his outing with five strikeouts and no walks.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect eighth and José Leclerc worked around a walk in the ninth to finish a six-hitter.
Tyler Glasnow (0-1) yielded a sacrifice fly to Jung in the second inning, and the right-hander's wild pitch allowed Texas to score its second run after the Rangers loaded the bases with no
outs in the fifth.
TWINS 3, BLUE JAYS 1 >> Royce Lewis smashed Minnesota's 18-game postseason losing streak into the seats, homering in each of his first two at-bats to carry the Twins over the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of their AL Wild Card Series.
Lewis hit a two-run shot off Kevin Gausman in the first inning and a leadoff drive in the third, sending the home dugout and the sellout Target Field crowd into a frenzy.
The bigger celebration occurred a few hours later when Jhoan Duran pitched a hitless ninth to close the first victory in the playoffs for the Twins since Oct. 5, 2004. They had the longest postseason losing streak in major North American professional sports. It was the first home win for the Twins in the playoffs since
Game 1 of the ALCS in 2002 at the Metrodome.
Lewis was a 3-year-old then. He's the type of bigtime player — with five grand slams in 70 career games — that could lead the Twins on an actual postseason run instead of just hanging a division title banner and leaving the party after three or four days.
PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 1 >> Zack Wheeler struck out eight in a sensational effort, José Alvarado preserved the lead with a pivotal strikeout and Philadelphia opened a resolute postseason push with a win over Miami in the opener of their NL Wild Card Series.
Nick Castellanos provided the game's signature moment, directing his ring finger toward a joyous Phillies dugout after a key double and sending a message the defending NL champions
crave the cherished piece of jewelry they were denied by Houston last season.
Castellanos added an RBI double in the eighth inning to score Bryce Harper — who knocked off his helmet as he steamrolled past a stop sign — and the Phillies moved within a victory of an NL Division Series matchup against Atlanta.
Craig Kimbrel worked a scoreless ninth for the save.
Phillies fans held signs that read “Un-phinished Business” and they were downright delirious when injured slugger Rhys Hoskins fought back tears and threw the ceremonial first pitch.
The Phillies won 11 postseason games last season, two shy of the ultimate goal and their first World Series title since 2008. The theme of unfinished business — as it is for so many World Series losers — was a key element that permeated throughout the clubhouse this season. DIAMONDBACKS 6, BREWERS 3>> Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno homered against Corbin Burnes, helping Arizona erase an early three-run deficit to beat Milwaukee in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series.
The rally put Arizona in a prime position to advance. Game 2 of the bestof-three series is Wednesday, and the Diamondbacks have ace Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly lined up after rookie Brandon Pfaadt lasted just 2 2/3 innings in the opener.
Arizona, which clinched an NL wild card in the final days of the season, had been 0-14 in postseason games when trailing by at least three runs.
Carroll and Marte homered on back-to-back pitches in the third, and Moreno put the Diamondbacks ahead in the fourth. Evan Longoria protected Arizona's one-run lead in the fifth by robbing Tyrone Taylor of a bases-loaded hit and turning it into an inning-ending double play. Christian Walker provided some insurance with a tworun double off Devin Williams in the ninth.
The NL Central champion Brewers left the bases loaded in the first and third, and they failed to score after loading the bases with nobody out in the fifth. Arizona's Joe Mantiply, Miguel Castro, Ryne Nelson, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald combined for 6 1/3 innings of shutout relief.