It’s do-or-die time for the Rays and Rangers in Game 163. And the Rays have the early advantage.
Delmon Young delivered a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning to give the Rays an early 1-0 lead, but things could have been much worse for the Rangers and their young left-hander Martin Perez.
Desmond Jennings led off the game by ripping the first pitch from Perez the left field line, but he was cut down by Craig Gentry while trying to stretch it into a double. This is Jennings’ first game back in the starting lineup in over a week due to a hamstring strain and he clearly isn’t 100 percent yet. It proved to be a big moment in the inning, as Martin went on to walk Wil Myers on four pitches and give up singles to Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria. However, Perez was able to avoid the big inning by getting Young to fly out deep to center field and Sean Rodriguez on a strikeout.
