The Tampa Bay Rays won 6-3 in a do-or-die Game 3 at Arlington tonight on the strength of late-inning homers from Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, despite a last-gasp from the Texas offense in the bottom of the ninth.
The game, of course, was not without its controversy, which will likely draw far more attention and support for those who are pushing for expanded instant replay in baseball, in both regular season and postseason games.
In the bottom of the sixth, umpire Jeff Kellogg called SS Elvis Andrus safe on a steal attempt at second, though Andrus clearly never touched the bag. A well-positioned Jason Bartlett was able to block Andrus from the bag and make the tag before he ever touched second (as shown on replay). Also, Carl Crawford had back-to-back strike calls on pitches which appeared to be at least half a foot off the outside corner to go down looking, and made no secret of his dissatisfaction, though to no avail. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, to his credit, managed to keep a cool head in both of these instances.
Questionable calls aside, Game 3 was a very low-scoring affair until the late innings. 2B Ian Kinsler led off the bottom of the seventh with a shot into the LF stands, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead and running Tampa starter RHP Matt Garza out of the game. The Rays countered in the top of the eighth when DH Dan Johnson crushed an inside fastball from Oliver off the right field wall for a 1-out double, where he was replaced by the lightning-fast rookie Desmond Jennings, who then scored when Nelson Cruz bobbled a single by Carlos Pena to tie the game at 2-2.
Submariner Darren O'Day struck out CF B.J. Upton on a tough outside breaking pitch, then was promptly replaced by the Rangers' closer and fireballer Neftali Feliz. This left Texas manager Ron Washington with only one arm in the 'pen (Dustin Nippert). The pressure soon got to the young closer as he promptly walked Bartlett, after which C John Jaso worked a difficult at-bat to score Pena from second on a shallow single to center, Josh Hamilton's throw being well up the 1B line. Jaso advanced to second on the throw home, but was stranded when Zobrist popped up to end the inning.
The damage was done as the Rays took the lead, 3-2, and Crawford added insurance when he homered to deep right-center against Feliz in the top of the ninth, forcing Texas to bring Nippert into the game. 2B Sean Rodriguez singled to left and was scored on another Rays homer, this time off the bat of Carlos Pena. Nelson Cruz was able to put a one-spot on the board for the home team when he hit a solo shot off Tampa closer Rafael Soriano, but the short-lived rally died quickly as the Rays held on to win.
Leave a Comment