The last time the Texas Rangers won a playoff game Barack Obama was president, Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens was the number one movie and Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars was the number one song.
It had been since October 9th, 2015… until today.
The Rangers took down the Rays 4-0 at Tropicana Field today to take a 1-0 lead in this best-of-three AL wildcard series.
Jordan Montgomery was the story of the day for the Rangers.
Montgomery went seven shutout innings allowing just six hits while striking out five and not allowing a single walk. The Rangers trade deadline acquisition came up huge for himself early making a sensational diving play on a Jose Siri bunt attempt.
After the game, Rangers Catcher Jonah Heim said “He [Montgomery] was special, he had all his pitches working, and when he got behind he made pitches when he needed to, just special”.
Defense was a tale of two stories in this game as the Rays committed four errors and a wild pitch to help the Rangers put their four runs on the board.
The Texas offense was led by 21-year-old rookie Evan Carter who had two hits, two walks, and a stolen base in this one. Corey Seager also contributed two hits including the big base hit into center field which would end up scoring two after a throwing error on Jose Siri.
After the game when speaking on the Rangers offense, Carter said “I think we controlled the zone really well today, put together a lot of really good at-bats, a lot of walks, just not a lot of chasing from anybody today so it was really good”.
Bruce Bochy managed his 78th postseason game perfectly after pulling Jordan Montgomery after his lengthy 7th inning and then calling on Aroldis Chapman and Jose LeClerc who would both pitch scoreless innings out of the bullpen to close this one out.
For the Rangers, it was a huge win to secure their first post-season victory since 2015 and take a 1-0 series lead.
Bochy said, “Great job by the club, well-played game obviously it starts with Monty; terrific job, [We had] great at-bats; but they played well and it was a well-played game by us”.
The Rangers will be back in action tomorrow afternoon for game two of the series where Nathan Eovaldi will get the ball for Texas as they are one win away from winning the series and advancing to the ALDS.
