Tampa Bay @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 9, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 6, Texas 3
The Tampa Bay Rays don't have many big bats, but the few they have finally came alive.
And because they did, the Rays stayed alive in the American League Division Series by rallying for a 6-3 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay will look to even the best-of-5 series Sunday when it takes on Texas in Game 4 at Rangers Ballpark.
On the verge of being swept out of the playoffs, the Rays showed their mettle by scoring six runs over the final four innings Saturday to stave off elimination.
Carlos Pena, a .196 hitter during the regular season, drove in three runs with a two-run homer and a tying single in the eighth inning for the AL East champions.
Carl Crawford also went deep after John Jaso had put Tampa Bay ahead with a clutch two-out single off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz in the eighth inning.
The late offensive eruption was a much-needed boost for the Rays, who have stranded 26 runners in the ALDS and had scored one run in 23 innings before B.J. Upton's two-out RBI double in the sixth got them on the board Saturday.
Wade Davis (12-10) will take the mound today for the Rays, looking to send the series back to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a decisive fifth game on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old right-hander will have to erase the memory of his worst start of the season, when the Rangers battered him for a season-high eight runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings of a 9-6 loss on June 4.
Texas center fielder Josh Hamilton homered and doubled off Davis in that game.
That beating was the start of five consecutive losses for Davis, who then turned his season around in July by going 7-1 the rest of the way, including a seven-game winning streak.
Davis was superb on the final day of the regular season, holding Kansas City to two runs on three hits in seven innings as the Rays wrapped up the AL East title and secured home-field advantage.
Having surrendered 24 homers in 168 innings, Davis will have to be wary of a Texas lineup that has gone deep six times already in the series. Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz had solo blasts Saturday.
Tommy Hunter (13-4) will try to close out the Rays today at a venue where he went 7-0 in 2010. He split a pair of decisions against Tampa Bay this year, going the distance and allowing one run on five hits in a 6-1 victory in his season debut on June 5 at Rangers Ballpark.
Tampa Bay avenged that loss on Aug. 17 at home, roughing up Hunter for four runs on six hits in three-plus innings of a 10-1 rout. Crawford had an RBI triple and Pena a run-scoring double off Hunter in the game.
The Rays are trying to become just the second team to win a division series after dropping the first two games at home. The New York Yankees accomplished the feat in 2001 against Oakland.