'All or nothing'

Adolis García was patient. When he spotted Rays right-hander Zach Eflin's squiggly cutter, he pulled at the pitch placed on the lower outside of the strike zone.

Once again, the Cuban outfielder's swing hit at ease, producing his 40th home run of the year to put the Rangers ahead, 1-0, at the start of the fourth inning. Eflin, who took nine seconds to start his windup, gave up the costly pitch at 1-1, a tally in which he had allowed a career-high five home runs and a .971 OPS during the regular season.

The 416-foot bomb*, which landed in one of the busiest left field areas at Tropicana Field, opened a decisive four-run rally in the Rangers' sweep of the Rays during the American League Wild Card Series.

*He also became the eighth Cuban hitter to hit at least one home run in his first two postseason games, joining Zoilo Versalles (1965), Tony González (1969), Tito Fuentes (1981), José Canseco (1988), Jorge Soler (2015), Yandy Díaz (2019), and José Abreu (2020).

The 4-0 and 7-1 victories were convincing for the Rangers, who unleashed an offense that constantly stalked the Rays' pitchers. However, Adolis, who is playing in the first postseason of his career, was limited to 2-for-10 with three strikeouts and was unable to walk.

The least important point here, of course, was that .200 batting average in 10 trips to the plate. Although Adolis had only two hits — a 109.9 mph single off starter Tyler Glasnow in Game 1, and the well-known Game 2 home run off Eflin — his seven batted balls averaged 100.4 mph in exit velocity.