Lee is money, Price falls in ALDS opener
Rangers' lefty strikes out 10 for 1st win of season over Rays
The Story
The only price that seemed right in Tampa Bay on Wednesday was Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels's surrendering of four prospects for Cliff Lee.
Acquired from Seattle on July 9 for a package that included promising first baseman Justin Smoak, the ace pitcher reminded 35,474 in the seats at Tropicana Field and millions elsewhere that he is one of baseball's big-game pitchers.
Lee blanked the hometown Rays for 6 1/3 innings in Game 1 of a best-of-five American League Division Series before Ben Zobrist touched him for a solo home run, the only blemish on the left-hander's afternoon in a 5-1 Texas victory.
It was the first win in four starts this season against Tampa Bay for Lee, who has allowed one earned run or less in four of his past five starts. Wednesday's seven-inning masterpiece included 10 strikeouts to match a post-season high, no walks and just five hits allowed.
The Line
Rangers
- Cliff Lee (SP): 7 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 10 K
- Bengie Molina (C): 3-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 1B, 1 HR
- Nelson Cruz (LF): 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
Rays
- David Price (SP): 6.2 IP, 5 R, 9 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 2 HR
- Ben Zobrist (RF): 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR
- Carl Crawford (LF): 1-4, 1 SB
The 32-year-old rode solo home runs by Nelson Cruz and Bengie Molina and outpitched Rays ace David Price. Lee pitched himself out of trouble in the first two innings — striking out five — and then retired the Rays in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings. He retired 16 of 17 during one stretch.
"Just locating pitches, working ahead in the count," Lee said. "When I got out of the first inning, I knew things were going to go well."
Tampa Bay threatened to score its first run in the sixth, but Lee fanned Carlos Pena for the third time in as many at-bats to end the inning.
Lee exited after throwing 76 of his 104 pitches for strikes and improved to 7-5 in 14 career starts versus the Rays, including a 4-2 mark at Tampa Bay.
Last fall, he went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five starts for the Philadelphia Phillies, including 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA against the New York Yankees in the World Series.
For Price, a September to remember — 4-0, 1.67 ERA in six starts — quickly turned into an October afternoon to forget.
Making his first career playoff start, he needed 24 pitches to get through the first inning and allowed runs in four of seven frames, departing with two out in the seventh. The 25-year-old entered Wednesday's contest with a 0-2 record and 7.45 ERA in four appearances against Texas.
What it means
The Rangers, competing in the post-season for the first time since 1999, pick up a huge road win against Tampa Bay ace pitcher David Price to open the playoffs and will head home following Thursday's game with no worse than a two-game split. Wednesday's win was Texas' first in the post-season since Game 1 of the 1996 ALDS against the New York Yankees.
Game-changers
The big pitch — In the first inning, Lee served up singles to Jason Bartlett, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to load the bases with one out. He came back to strike out Carlos Pena and Rocco Baldelli on a foul tip. Texas scored twice in its next at-bat and never relinquished the lead.
The big hit — With the Rangers leading 2-0 in the third inning, Nelson Cruz launched a 3-0 fastball from Price over the centre-field fence for a solo home run. It was Cruz's third hit and second home run against the Rays lefty in six career at-bats.
Game notes:
Tampa Bay continues to have success against Lee after the sixth inning this season. Zobrist's home run in the seventh was the Rays' 14th hit in 34 at-bats in such situations for a .412 average.
Third baseman Evan Longoria returned to the Tampa Bay lineup after missing the final 10 regular-season games with a sore quadriceps muscle. He singled and struck out in a 1-for-4 performance.
The Rays saw their record slip to 23-9 in 2010 with Price on the mound. Price started the game throwing 19 consecutive fastballs before delivering a 1-1 curveball to Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz.
Jeff Francoeur opened the scoring in the second inning with a run-scoring double, the Rangers right-fielder's 11th run batted in in his 15th game with Texas since arriving in an Aug. 31 trade from the New York Mets.
The capacity crowd was just the sixth of that size this year for the Rays, who ranked 22nd in the majors in attendance with an average of 23,025.
UP NEXT
Game 2 is a 2:37 p.m. ET start Thursday with C.J. Wilson (15-8 in the regular season) taking the mound for Texas against James Shields (13-15).
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