Worst in the majors last year, the Tampa Bay Rays will play for a spot in the World Series.
Andy Sonnastine pitched 5 2-3 solid innings and manager Joe Maddon’s surprising Rays won 3-1 in the best-of-five series – their first trip to the postseason. Next up, they’ll host wild-card Boston in Game 1 of the AL championship series Friday night.
After fending off elimination several times and winning a tiebreaker for the AL Central title, the White Sox were finally knocked out.
The loss dashed Chicago’s hope for a championship – days ago, local fans were thinking the Cubs and White Soxmight meet in a Windy City Classic. But the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers and now both teams are done.
Upton, the game’s second batter, homered to left-center to put the Rays ahead. He went deep again in the third, driving a full-count pitch from Gavin Floyd to center, and the confident Rays had a two-run cushion.
Tampa Bay, which never won more than 70 games during its 10 previous seasons, went from 96 losses last year to 97 wins and passed the Red Sox New York Yankees in the AL East.
The Rays won all year with young talent and improved pitching.
After losing the first two games of this series at Tropicana Field despite leading in both, the White Sox came back home to win Sunday. And they were hoping for another three-game winning streak, but the Rays prevailed.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.