Rays Shut Indians Out 4-0 to Advance to ALDS
The Tampa Bay Rays shut out the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the American League Wild Card game on Wednesday to advance to the American League Division Series best-of-five playoff with the A.L. East champion Boston Red Sox on Friday. Late season acquisition Delmon Young has played a major role in getting the Rays to Boston. He drove in the first run of the game on Monday in a do-or-die game against the Texas Rangers on a first inning sac fly. On Wednesday, Young jumped on the first pitch from Danny Salazar who mowed the Rays down in the first two innings, and hit it out over the left field wall for a 1-0 lead.
Then in the top of the fourth, Desmond Jennings rocketed a two-out two run double past third base to make it 3-0 Rays. From there, Alex Cobb got in and out of trouble, able to get out of a bases loaded one out jam with a double play in the fourth and a one jam with runners on second and third in the fifth with a strikeout and a ground out back to the mound. In the seventh, Cobb gave up a lead-off double and an infield single. But the Rays bullpen shut the door there with Jamie Wright and Joel Peralta getting the Rays out of the jam.
The Rays have been on the road forever. They went to face the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays last week to end the regular season. After sweeping the Yanks and getting one of three from Toronto, they found themselves tied for the second Wild Card spot with Texas. Since the Rangers won the season series with the Rays they were the host for the tie-breaking 163rd game. The Rays win in that game marked the fourth time this season they have been 21 games over .500. As of Wednesday, they had never made it to 22 games over. They will play their fourth consecutive game in a different city on Friday night in Boston when Matt Moore gets the call against the Sox and Jon Lester.
Boston beat Tampa Bay 12 of the 19 times the two teams played in the regular season. However the Rays won four of the last seven meetings.
Bookmaker has futures on teams to win the American League Pennant
1. Detroit Tigers +165
2. Boston Red Sox +217
3. Tampa Bay Rays +280
4. Oakland A’s +390
We are a little bit surprised that the A’s are not getting more respect from the odds-makers after winning the A. L. West for the second straight year. But it is not to surprising the Rays and Red Sox odds are what they are. The Sox won the division and dominated the head-to-head series against the rays this year. Do not be surprised if the Rays win this series however. They have fared very well against the Sox in recent years, winning some huge games at Fenway. They will not be intimidated.
