ARLINGTON, Texas — Nelson Cruz came back from his Biogenesis suspension just in time to try to get the Rangers into the playoffs, but his return wasn’t enough to beat David Price and Evan Longoria, who got the Rays back to October with a 5-2 victory in a tiebreaker game Monday night.
Price overcame a rough history against Texas to hurl a complete game and Longoria showed he doesn’t only hit home runs against the Yankees.
The Rays (92-71) will play the Indians in Cleveland in the AL wild-card game Wednesday, with Texas finishing 91-72.
Cruz, who made his return from his 50-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal the same day Alex Rodriguez began his appeal of a 211-game suspension, went 0-for-4 and made the final out of the game.
Instead, it was Price, who entered the game 1-7 with a 6.62 ERA in 11 previous starts against the Rangers, who stole the show in Game 163 with a 118-pitch outing.
Longoria went deep nine times this season against the Yankees and hit his 32nd home run of the season with a two-run shot in the third. He also doubled and scored in the sixth.
When asked before the game why his team had so much success against Price (10-8), Texas manager Ron Washington said: “I can’t give you that. It’s classified.”
But he knew better than to think the Rangers would roll over Price again.
“It’s just something that happened, you know?” Washington said of the numbers. “There’s some circumstances that might have happened in the course of a ballgame that was out of his control as a pitcher that caused some things. Believe me, we’re not that confident that we’re just going to go out there and destroy Price because of what we’ve done in the past. … No one in this clubhouse is taking David Price lightly.”
Price’s outing was made a little tougher by a blown call in the seventh — despite two extra umpires — that cost the Rays at least one run.
Texas center fielder Leonys Martin was ruled to have made a diving catch on Delmon Young’s shallow fly ball, but it clearly dropped in front of him. Wil Myers would have scored easily from second with two out.
It wasn’t the only tough break for Tampa Bay, as it had to face Cruz, who had 27 homers before accepting a 50-game ban on Aug. 4.
The DH returned to a hero’s welcome in his first at-bat, but wasn’t productive at the plate.
And while the Rangers were thrilled to get their slugging teammate back in the lineup, the Rays didn’t sound quite as enthused.
“I have nothing to do with that,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said before the game. “My job is to get our guys ready to play. He served his punishment, whatever you want to call it. According to the rules, he’s eligible.”
Cruz had 27 at-bats in advanced instructional league to try to get ready and admitted he didn’t know what to expect Monday.
“I don’t know,” Cruz said. “I always come and do my job and play hard. I’m hoping the best. It’s a crazy thing. [Sunday], a lot of good things were happening. I think God has a reason for everything. I believe this is one of the reasons I’m playing.”
He played, but it didn’t do the Rangers any good, as rookie Martin Perez fell to 10-6 and the Rays moved on to the wild-card game.