ST PETERSBURG, Florida — Jordan Montgomery allowed six hits over seven innings as the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 on Tuesday to open the American League wild-card series.
Corey Seager and Josh Jung each drove in a run and the Rangers benefited from four errors by the Rays, who were left without a power hit in front of about 19,704 spectators, nearly 5,300 less than Tropicana Field’s maximum capacity.
Texas moved one win away in the division series against Baltimore.
Tampa Bay, which wore Devil Rays jerseys from 1998 to 2000, suffered its sixth straight postseason loss since winning the first game of the 2021 division series against Boston.
The Rays have been to the playoffs five years in a row, but have scored just one run in their last three postseason losses, in which they are batting .133.
For the Rangers, Cuban Adolis Garcia is 5-1. Dominican Leodi Taveras 5-2.
For the Rays, Cuba’s Randy Arosarena is 4-2 and Yandy Díaz is 4-0. Mexico’s Isaac Paredes is 4-1 and Jonathan Aranda is 1-0. Colombian Harold Ramirez is 4-0. Dominicans Jose Siri is 3-0, Manuel Marcotte is 2-0 and Junior Caminero is 1-0. Venezuela Rene Pinto 2-0.