Tampa Bay 4, Texas 1
When: 8:05 PM ET, Saturday, October 1, 2016
Where: Globe Life Park in Arlington, Arlington, Texas
Temperature:
79°
Umpires:
Home -
Mark Wegner, 1B -
Ramon De Jesus, 2B -
Mike Winters, 3B -
Mike Muchlinski
Attendance:
42093
By The Sports Xchange
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Both Tampa Bay starter Jake Odorizzi and Texas starter Colby Lewis got what they wanted out of Saturday's 4-1 Rays win over the Rangers.
Odorizzi (10-6) finished off a strong second half of the season for himself with six innings of one-run ball. Odorizzi finished his season 7-1 over his final 14 starts.
And while Lewis (6-5) took the loss, he was strong as well. He was charged with all four Tampa Bay runs but none of the four were earned as Lewis pitched 6 1/3 frames of five-hit ball in his final start before the American League Division Series.
Lewis could have had a better end result if the Rangers would have had any kind of success against Odorizzi.
Odorizzi struck out eight batters, didn't walk one and finished the year undefeated in his final seven road starts.
"I feel confident going into the offseason with the second half I put together," Odorizzi said. "This was just kind of putting a wrap on the season. It's nice to go into the offseason on a strong outing, something to build on. I'm pleased. I felt strong. My fastball had good zip on it and I mixed speeds."
Odorizzi got the offensive support he'd need in the third inning when the Rays took advantage of an error to score four unearned runs off Lewis. Kevin Kiermaier hit a grounder with one out that kicked off the leg of Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor and rolled into right field, putting runners on second and third.
Evan Longoria's grounder scored the first run, and Lewis then walked Brad Miller. That proved to be costly as Corey Dickerson launched a three-run homer to center. That homer put the Rays up 4-0 and allowed Dickerson to match his career high in home runs with 24.
That inning was the only blemish for Lewis, who struck out three and walked one.
"I actually felt stronger as the game went on," said Lewis, who had his best start since missing 2 1/2 months because of a strained lat muscle. "My stuff felt sharper. If you want to look back on the one pitch that kind of put runs on the board [to Dickerson], it was a curveball. I didn't think it was that bad of a pitch. It was 8-10 inches off the ground. He barreled it and it is what it is."
Texas manager Jeff Banister was happy to see Lewis pitch into the seventh and get his pitch count up to 101, with 71 of those strikes.
"I felt like the ability to get him to 100 pitches, get him into the seventh, felt like seemed to get a little stronger, stuff sharpened up for him," Banister said. "He was able to pitch on the edges, where he normally likes to pitch. Other than the one inning, I felt like he was sharp and felt good about it."
Texas got its lone run off Odorizzi on a solo homer to center by catcher Robinson Chirinos in the sixth.
"We view him [Odorizzi] as much more than just your average starting pitcher," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. "He's young. He's still learning what he's capable of doing. I know the win-loss record, it is what it is, but for the innings that he goes out and provides, he keeps us in a ton of ballgames."
Odorizzi and three relievers combined to strike out 12 Texas batters. Alex Colome finished the game with a hitless ninth for his 37th save. The teams combined for just eight hits and no one had more than one.
NOTES: Friday's 3-1 victory set a single-season high for wins by Texas at home. It was the 53rd victory for the Rangers, one more than they won in 1978 and 2011. ... Tampa Bay will start RHP Chase Whitley on Sunday. He'll be just the 28th starter used by the Rays since the start of 2008, the fewest of any team in the majors. ... If Tampa Bay 3B Evan Longoria plays Sunday, he'll be just the fourth active player to compete in at least 160 games in four straight seasons. Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez and Ichiro Suzuki have also accomplished the feat. ... With his 12 strikeouts Friday, RHP Yu Darvish reached 812 in his 100th start. That's a major-league record, 46 more than Chicago's Chris Sale.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Tampa Bay
|
5 |
1 |
10 |
.152 |
13 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Texas
|
3 |
1 |
7 |
.097 |
11 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |