Once again the Rays opened a comfortable early lead and once again Texas made it close, but once again the Rays hung on and won 5-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS and make it six straight over Texas in the last two playoffs. Much as the Rays had their way with Texas ace Wil Diaz yesterday, they were all over Texas's other young stud pitcher, Victor Presas. It took until the 3rd today to break through, but they did when Keibert Ruiz executed a perfect hit-and-run, singling to put Connor Kirkley on 3rd and Ricky Widmar followed with a sac fly before Judson Fabian went deep and it was suddenly 3-0. And in the 4th Bobby Witt Jr singled, stole second, went to 3rd on a Jhon Diaz single and scored on a Kirkley groundout, with Widmar later singling in Diaz to make it 5-0. But as yesterday, the Rangers crept back into the game, finally solving Shane McClanahan in the 6th with a run on a wild pitch, and then getting the leadoff man on against him in the 8th before he gave way to Jose Alvarado. Alvarado wasn't as sharp today as yesterday, giving up another hit and then a Keston Hiura 2-run double and the lead was down to 5-3. He got out of it, and JDLC looked the best he's been in a while, getting a 1-2-3 9th capped with a whiff of Heston Kjerstad to end the game. Alec Sachais will look to put the Rays in a commanding 3-0 lead when the series shifts to Texas in 2 days.
NLCS Game 3:
The Dodgers overcame an early lead and literally powered past the D-backs with 4 homers to take a 2-1 series lead. One of them came from - you guessed it - a former Ray (farmhand) as Petey Halpin, who went to LA along with Nick Gonzales in the Gavin Lux trade. Right now we're on track for the Rays to get a shot at avenging their lone World Series loss this decade in 2024.