Major League Baseball

Winning in familiar style

Published Oct. 13, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

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By Tom Jones

Times Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG - The winning formula for Tuesday night's ALDS Game 5 was one that looked familiar to what Rays fans have seen all season at Tropicana Field.

There was dominant starting pitching. There was solid defense. There was aggressive baserunning, timely hitting and making the most of every scoring opportunity.

Sound familiar?

But here's the slap in the face to the Rays and their fans. It wasn't the home team that played like that - it was the visiting Rangers.

The tone for Game 5 was set with the first hitter.

After Rangers leadoff man Elvis Andrus singled, he stole second then scored from second on a groundout.

Andrus was running on a pitch that Josh Hamilton grounded to first baseman Carlos Peña. Pitcher David Price covered first, and as Peña was flipping the ball to him for the out, Andrus, who slowed down slightly rounding third, turned it on and broke for the plate.

By the time Price turned around and threw home, it was too late to stop Andrus from making it 1-0 three batters into the game.

The Rangers had set the tone and never trailed the rest of the game.

More aggressive baserunning - the type seen so often by the Rays - followed.

Bengie Molina had three steals over 12 seasons in the majors and hadn't stolen one since 2006. But when the 36-year-old, 225-pound catcher took off in the third inning from first, the Rays appeared so shocked that Kelly Shoppach didn't even throw to second.

More aggressive baserunning produced the Rangers' next two runs.

After hitting a double with two outs in the fourth, Rangers leftfielder Nelson Cruz broke to steal third, and when Shoppach's throw sailed into leftfield, Cruz jumped to his feet to make it 2-1.

The third run looked similar to the first, and again, it was take-no-prisoners baserunning.

With runners on first and second and one out in the sixth inning, Ian Kinsler bounced a ball to first. Looking to get a double play, Peña threw to second for one out, and when shortstop Jason Bartlett threw to first, Price, who was covering, had trouble finding the base and catching the throw at the same time.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero, who had started on second base, never hesitated rounding third while the Rays were attempting to turn the double play. Price fired the ball home, but Guerrero's headfirst slide barely avoided Shoppach's tag, and the Rangers had a 3-1 lead.

Against Rangers ace Cliff Lee, 3-1 seemed like 300-1. Just as he did in Game 1, Lee survived a messy jam early then dominated the rest of the way.

In the end, the Rangers played Rays baseball, and because of it, they took Game 5 and all three games in the series at Tropicana Field.

You could even say they looked right at home.

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