2013 American League Wild Card Game

2013 American League Wild Card Game

Tampa Bay Rays 92 - 71 in the AL	1 - 0 Series Summary	Cleveland Indians 92 - 70 in the AL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Indians: Terry Francona | Rays: Joe Maddon

Indians

Rays

Umpires[edit]

Gerry Davis, Ted Barrett, Mike Everitt, Greg Gibson, Phil Cuzzi, Brian Knight

Series results[edit]

ALWC: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cleveland Indians[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Tampa Bay Rays 4 Cleveland Indians 0	October 2	Alex Cobb (1-0) Danny Salazar (0-1)	8:07 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Progressive Field[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rays	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	4	8	0
Indians	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
WP: Alex Cobb (1-0), LP: Danny Salazar (0-1)
Home Runs: - TB: Delmon Young (1)

Attendance: 43,579

The Tampa Bay Rays ended the Cleveland Indians' remarkable late-season surge with a 4-0 win in the American League Wild Card Game. Having secured their spot in the postseason with consecutive road victories against the Toronto Blue Jays on the last day of the season, and then in a one-game playoff with the Texas Rangers, the Rays continued their endless road trip with a win at Progressive Field. They had spent 20 days on the road by then.

Alex Cobb started the game for Tampa Bay, having been the team's most efficient pitcher all season, in spite of missing a month after having been by a line drive on June 15th. He gave up a few hits hits - 8 in 6 2/3 innings - but only one walk, and the Indians were unable to score off him. His opponent on the mound was rookie Danny Salazar, with only half a season of experience under his belt, having gone 2-3, 3.10 in 10 starts. He came out dealing, striking out Wil Myers and James Loney in the 1st inning on fastballs that approached 100 mph. He also got the side out in order in the 2nd, but DH Delmon Young, known for his postseason heroics, homered off him to lead off the 3rd, and the Rays were on their way. In the 4th, Loney and Evan Longoria hit back-to-back singles after one out, then Desmond Jennings doubled both of them in one out later for a 3-0 Rays lead.

The Indians had their best chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the 4th, as they loaded the bases with one out on a double by Carlos Santana, a single by Michael Brantley and a walk to Ryan Raburn; however, Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a double play to end the threat. Salazar left the game after walking C Jose Molina to lead off the 5th, but the Rays failed to score. The Indians put two more men on to start the bottom of the 5th, on a double by Yan Gomes and a single by Lonnie Chisenhall. Once again, Cobb got out of trouble with a strikeout and a couple of ground balls. The score remained 3-0 until the Rays added an insurance run in the top of the 9th, as Ben Zobrist greeted reliever Cody Allen with a single and eventually came to score on a single by Yunel Escobar. Thus, it was no longer a save situation when Fernando Rodney came on to pitch the bottom of the 9th. He retired the Indians in order to send the Rays on their way to a meeting with the Boston Red Sox in the Division Series.