Adolis Garcia and Evan Carter hit home runs to support Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1 on Wednesday to win this first-round series in two games at the American.
Garcia and Carter extended their arms against Zach Eflin, author of 16 victories this season.
A 20-year-old rookie, Carter is the second youngest player in Rangers history to play in a playoff game.
In the second round of the American, the Rangers face the Orioles, champions of the Eastern section, starting Saturday in Baltimore.
The Rays’ postseason scoreless streak reached 33 innings, one shy of the record set by the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1966 and 1974.
Curtis Mead broke through running with a single in the seventh.
The Rangers won a playoff series for the first time since 2011, when they reached the World Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Rays had a slow end to the campaign after an impressive start. They improved to 13-0 to tie the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers, behind only the St. Louis Cardinals’ 20-0 mark.
The Florida team had led its group since the first day of the season, when the Orioles beat it in mid-July.
Swept in the first round for the second year in a row, the Rays totaled two runs in those four games while batting .161.
Eovaldi allowed one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out eight batters.
Garcia’s leadoff home run in the fourth led to four runs in the inning. Josh Jung hit a triple and Carter hit a two-run home run for the Rangers, who are 7-0 in the playoffs in St. Petersburg.
Carter is hitting .306 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in 23 games since making his major league debut on Sept. 8.
He took the field in his first six at-bats of the playoffs, including two doubles and three walks.
There were just 20,198 fans at Tropicana Field.
