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, sweeping this first-round series in two games in the American.
Garcia and Carter stretched 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 a game in the playoffs.
In the second round in the American, the Rangers will face the Orioles, the champions of the Eastern section, starting Saturday in Baltimore.
The Rays’ postseason scoreless streak reached 33 innings, one short of the record set by the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1966 and 1974.
Curtis Mead broke it by driving in a run 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 sluggish end to the campaign after an impressive start. They improved to 13-0 to tie the 1982 Atlanta Braves and the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers, trailing only the 20-0 mark of the 1884 St. Louis Maroons.
The Florida team had led its section 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, hitting .161.
Eovaldi allowed one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings, while striking out eight batters.
Garcia’s leadoff homer in the fourth led to four runs in the inning. Josh Jung hit a scoring triple and Carter added a two-run homer 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 his major league debut on September 8.
He hit the field in his first six at-bats in the playoffs, including two doubles and three walks.
There were only 20,198 fans at Tropicana Field.