Rays’ bats come alive to extend the Rangers to a fourth contest

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, TEXAS

Tampa Bay’s hitters woke up just in time, and the Rays get to play another day.

John Jaso lined a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning after Carlos Pena delivered a rare clutch playoff hit for Tampa Bay, and the Rays avoided elimination in the AL division series with a 6-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

The Rays, the AL’s best team in the regular season, cut their deficit in the best-of-five series to 2-1. Game 4 is this afternoon.

“I was so nervous, hoping we didn’t get swept,” said Carl Crawford, who homered for the Rays. “I feel so much better. It feels like we’re winning the series right now.”

Limited to a total of one run while losing the first two games at home, Tampa Bay broke loose in the late innings.

“Your back is against the wall and everything seems to be going against you, the odds are against you,” Pena said. “Then you get this pause and you’re able to focus on the task at hand. We did that and it’s extremely powerful.”

With the record crowd of 51,746 still buzzing from Ian Kinsler’s leadoff homer in the seventh that put the Rangers up and appeared to set the stage for a series-clinching victory 50 seasons in the making, Dan Johnson doubled off the wall with one out in the Rays eighth. Pena followed with an RBI single that made it 2-all.

After B.J. Upton struck out for the fifth time in the series, reliever Darren O’Day was pulled after facing only one batter. Rangers manager Ron Washington made a curious move bringing in All-Star closer Neftali Feliz. The hard-throwing righty set a major league rookie record with 40 saves in the regular season.

Feliz walked Jason Bartlett, the No. 9 hitter in Tampa Bay’s order, before Jaso’s liner to center gave the Rays their first lead in the series.

“I was going to use him on Jaso anyway,” Washington explained. “Nefti comes in and don’t walk Bartlett and get out of that inning, and we’re going to the ninth inning with a tie ballgame and I’m bringing my closer in there anyway.”

Crawford led off the ninth with a homer to chase Feliz, and Pena added a two-run shot off reliever Dustin Nippert.

While Texas is still the only current major league franchise that has never won a postseason series, the Rays are trying to do what’s only been done once before.

Of the 16 teams before this year to lose the first two games of a division series at home, only the 2001 New York Yankees have swept the next three games to advance. They did it against Oakland.

“We didn’t want this to be our last game,” Crawford said.