The Texas Rangers have taken a 1-0 lead in their wildcard playoff series against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-0 win in Game 1 on Tuesday afternoon in Tampa.
Texas’ pitching dominated the day while the offense took advantage of four Tampa fielding errors and chased Rays starter Tyler Glasnow after five innings.
First baseman Nathaniel Lowe and outfielder Leody Taveras both singled in the top of the second inning, putting runners on the corners with one out for the Rangers. Rookie third baseman Josh Jung stepped up to the plate and sent a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Lowe for the game’s first run.
Shortstop Corey Seager scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth, but the Rangers could not send anyone else across the plate that inning.
Seager added to the 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the sixth and ended up on third base after a throwing error from Tampa outfielder Josh Siri.
Starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery was brilliant, tossing seven shutout innings while allowing six hits and striking out five, including pinch hitter Junior Caminero with a runner on base and two outs in the bottom of the seventh to finish his outing.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jose LeClerc got Taylor Walls to fly out to center field with a runner on base to end the game.
The Rangers are one win away from advancing to play the Baltimore Orioles (101-61) in the American League Division Series (ALDS).
The best-of-three wildcard series continues in Tampa at 2:08 p.m. CT on Wednesday. The Rangers will send Nathan Eovaldi (12-5, 3.63 ERA) to the mound to try to clinch the series against Zach Eflin (16-8, 3.50). A Tampa win would send the series to a winner-take-all Game 3 in Tampa on Thursday afternoon.
