Longoria homers help Tampa Bay Rays beat Chicago White Sox in playoff opener

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida: In their first ever playoff game, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Thursday in the opener of their American League Division Series.

Evan Longoria homered in his first two at-bats as Tampa Bay rallied for an historic victory in the first of a best-of-five series.

After 10 seasons as baseball's doormat, Tampa Bay took the AL East division with the best home record in the majors. And there were no October jitters as the young Rays kept winning at Tropicana Field.

Game 2 is Friday in Florida, when Tampa Bay's starting pitcher Scott Kazmir faces Chicago's Mark Buehrle.

"We want to win both of them now. We have such an advantage at home," Longoria said.

Chicago made the playoffs by downing Minnesota in a one-game AL Central tiebreaker Tuesday, and took a 3-1 lead on outfielder Dewayne Wise's three-run homer in the third inning. But pitcher Javier Vazquez, who has a history of flopping in big games, could not hold that advantage.

Longoria, who became the second player to homer in his first two postseason at-bats, joining Gary Gaetti from 1987, started the year in the minor leagues before becoming an All-Star third baseman in the majors. He hit 27 homers despite missing 30 games with a broken right wrist.

He homered on his very first postseason pitch, a leadoff drive in the second. He put Tampa Bay ahead 4-3 with another solo shot in the third, a homer off one of the infamous catwalks that support the roof at Tropicana. He also had a RBI single and finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

The Rays led 6-3 in the seventh when the game got tense.

Tampa Bay's Grant Balfour relieved starting pitcher James Shields with the bases loaded and one out, and struck out Juan Uribe for the second out. Chicago shortsop Orlando Cabrera was up next, and he kicked dirt toward the mound and appeared to shout something at Balfour. The reliever walked toward the plate before being stopped by the umpire.

Balfour struck out Cabrera to end the inning, pumped his fist and pointed at the White Sox shortstop. The exchange also brought Rays manager Joe Maddon and bench coach Dave Martinez out of the dugout and more words were exchanged between Martinez and the White Sox bench.

Tampa Bay slugger Carlos Pena left the game after the second inning with slightly blurred vision in his left eye. The Rays said he accidentally scratched his eye at home on Wednesday. He is expected to return to the lineup for Game 2.

Tampa Bay ranked near the bottom of the attendance charts this year, yet was cheered on Thursday by a sellout crowd of 35,041.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/04/2008 page12)