Ray-markable! Rays head to AL championship series
Worst in the majors last year, the Rays will play for a spot in the World Series after finishing off the Chicago White Sox 6-2 Monday in Game 4 of the AL playoffs.
Ray-markable!
Upton homered twice, Andy Sonnanstine pitched a solid 5 2-3 innings and manager Joe Maddon's surprising Rays won 3-1 in the best-of-five series — their first trip to the postseason. Next up, the Boston Red Sox or the Los Angeles Angels starting Friday.
After staving off elimination several times and winning a tiebreaker for the AL Central title, the White Sox were finally knocked out.
The loss dashed Chicago's hope for a championship — days ago, local fans were thinking the Cubs and White Sox might meet in a Windy City Classic. But the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers and now both teams are done.
Upton, the game's second batter, homered to left-center to put the Rays ahead. He went deep again in the third, driving a full-count pitch from Gavin Floyd to center, and the confident Rays had a two-run cushion.
Tampa Bay, which never won more than 70 games during its 10 previous seasons, went from 96 losses last year to 97 wins and passed the big-spending Red Sox and New York Yankees in the AL East.
He allowed two runs and three hits before J.P Howell relieved. Grant Balfour completed the four-hitter, striking out midseason addition Ken Griffey Jr. to end it.
Upton, who hit only nine homers in 531 at-bats during the regular season, also homered in Sunday's 5-3 loss. Benched by Maddon during the season for not hustling, the talented 24-year-old's power display came against a team that relied on homers all year and led the majors in long balls.
Tampa Bay increased the lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Carl Crawford walked and scored as veteran Cliff Floyd, a Chicago native, doubled to left. Dioner Navarro followed with an RBI single to finish Floyd.
Paul Konerko hit a solo homer for the White Sox in the bottom half and the white towel-waving crowd dressed in black had a reason to get excited. But Tampa Bay struck right back in the fifth against Clayton Richard as Akinori Iwamura singled and scored on Carlos Pena's single that made it 5-1.
Jermaine Dye hit a solo home run in the sixth to finish Sonnanstine.
Tampa Bay kept adding on and Pena hit his second RBI single in the seventh — after the White Sox had intentionally walked Upton. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, apparently upset when a close pitch from Matt Thornton to Pena was called a ball, had a conversation with home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg as he headed back to the dugout after a trip to the mound.
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