ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Adolis García and Evan Carter homered, and the Texas Rangers beat the punchless Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 Wednesday to finish a two-game AL Wild Card Series sweep.
García and Carter connected against 16-game winner Zach Eflin, who was unable to save Tampa Bay’s season. Nathan Eovaldi also delivered for the Rangers, pitching 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
Texas advanced to a Division Series at AL East champion Baltimore starting Saturday. The Rays’ scoreless streak reached 33 innings, one shy of the postseason record held by the 1966-74 Los Angeles Dodgers, before Curtis Mead’s RBI single in the seventh.
Texas won a postseason series for the first time since 2011, when the Rangers reached the World Series before losing to St. Louis.
After securing the AL’s second wild card, Tampa Bay lost its seventh straight postseason game. In getting swept in consecutive Wild Card Series, the Rays scored two runs over four games while hitting .161.
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