So we're tied
It was a wild, back-and-forth game but Texas's outstanding lineup of hitters proved too much for the Rays in the end tonight. Alec Sachais started and was looking great through 5 innings, allowing the Rangers only one hit on an Adrian Ramos homer in the 4th after he had retired the first 10 batters. And when Dane Ayers blasted a 2-run homer and Nate Clark singled in another in the 5th to put the Rays up 3-1, it looked like the Rays were ready to roll to a 2-0 series lead. But it was Texas with the comeback today as suddenly Sachais couldn't get anyone out in the sixth, allowing three runs on four hits to put the Rangers back on top. And after Jordan Diaz got out of that jam and pitched through the 7th, former Ranger Brad Ballmann was terrible (although a Joe Barker error didn't help) and Jack Leiter looked a bit rusty in relief and when the dust settled Texas had four more runs to go up 8-3. The game marked the return of Ricky Widmar (who DH'd today) and he came back with a single to lead off the game but had his biggest hit with a bases-clearing double in the 8th that sparked thoughts of another miracle comeback, making it 8-6. But the Rays could do no more despite putting two men on in the 9th when Adley Rustchman struck out and came up empty in yet
another clutch situation. He went 0-5 today and left a team-high 6 men on base and frankly it's getting kind of ridiculous. The loss ended an 11-game postseason winning streak for the Rays, with the last loss coming in Game 3 of last year's ALCS against the Rangers. They had also been 23-3 in their last 26 postseason games going back to 2028.
The NLCS got underway:
