Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning helped Texas reach the sixth inning ahead, and the Rangers held on through some anxious moments for a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of their AL Division Series on Saturday. The bullpen did a great job,” manager Bruce Bochy said. Got bumpy, but found a way to get through it.
Bryson Stott hit a grand slam, Aaron Nola pitched seven scoreless innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 7-1 on Wednesday night for a two-game sweep of their NL Wild Card Series. After making quick work of the surprising Marlins, it’s time for an anticipated rematch. J.T. Realmuto also homered as the Phillies advanced to another best-of-five NL Division Series against Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and the Braves.
The elation of less than 24 hours earlier inside the Texas Rangers clubhouse was replaced with disappointment about a major missed opportunity. The Rangers are thrilled to be back in the postseason, but failed to win American League West title and earn some extra time off when they lost to the Seattle Mariners 1-0 on Sunday. Coupled with Houston’s 8-1 win over Arizona, the defeat handed the AL West title to the Astros (89-73) as the result of the season-series tiebreaker and sent Texas (89-73) to the postseason as a wild card team for a best-of-three series at Tampa Bay starting Tuesday.