Twins, Rangers move on with sweeps
Abbie Parr – staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Minnesota’s Carlos Correa reacts after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of Game 2 against Toronto.
Texas Rangers players celebrate after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 during Game 2 in an AL wild-card baseball playoff series, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Texas Rangers players celebrate after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 during Game 2 in an AL wild-card baseball playoff series, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Carlos Correa contributed an RBI single and a quick-twitch tag off a pickoff throw from Sonny Gray, and the Minnesota Twins swept the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.
The Twins advanced – for the first time in 21 years – to play the defending World Series champion Astros. Game 1 of the best-of-five AL Division Series is in Houston on Saturday.
It’s familiar territory for Correa, who played for Houston for seven seasons before signing with Minnesota in free agency. Correa helped the Astros to three World Series appearances, winning it all in 2017, and he appears to be working on another memorable October.
The two-time All-Star, who went 3 for 7 with a hit-by-pitch in the Wild Card Series, ripped a bases-loaded single in a two-run fourth. Despite being outhit 15-12 by the Blue Jays over the two games, the patient Twins delivered precisely when they needed to at the plate and leaned back to watch their bullpen dominate with 7 1/3 scoreless innings in the series.
Jhoan Duran, after an extended examination of his hand by Minnesota’s medical staff following his warmup pitches, struck out the side in the ninth to trigger the celebration around the mound.
The Blue Jays, who lost their seventh straight game in the playoffs since the AL Championship Series in 2016, left nine runners on base after stranding nine men in Game 1. Matt Chapman had a liner go just foul before grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the sixth against Caleb Thielbar.
Texas, 7-1
Adolis García and Evan Carter homered to back Nathan Eovaldi, and the Texas Rangers beat the punchless Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 to finish a two-game AL Wild Card Series sweep.
Garcia and Carter, a 20-year-old rookie who became the second-youngest postseason player in franchise history, homered off 16-game winner Zach Eflin, who was unable to save Tampa Bay’s season.
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.
Tampa Bay followed a stellar start with a fizzling finish. The Rays opened 13-0. The Rays led the AL West from opening day and then were overtaken by the Orioles in mid-July.
After gaining 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.
Eovaldi, beating the Rays for the third time this year, season, allowed six hits while striking out eight and walking none over 6 2/3 innings.