Rangers 3, Angels 1
Mike Napoli homered twice, including a tiebreaking two-run shot in the ninth inning to give the Texas Rangers home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 3-1 victory over the host Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Napoli’s blast gave Texas its sixth straight victory and the second-best record in the American League with a franchise-best 96 victories, one game better than the Detroit Tigers.
Texas will play the Tampa Bay Rays in an American League Division Series beginning Friday. Tampa Bay defeated the New York Yankees 8-7 in 12 innings on Evan Longoria's walk-off home run moments after the Boston Red Sox lost 4-3 at Baltimore on Wednesday.
Michael Young singled with one out in the ninth before Napoli hit a two-out, high-arching shot just inside the left-field foul pole off Jordan Walden (5-5).
Napoli also homered in the second. The former Angel has four homers in the last two games and has a career-best 30.
Los Angeles tied the score in the fifth when Bobby Wilson doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Gil Velazquez’s sacrifice fly.
Mike Adams (5-4) pitched a scoreless eighth and Neftali Feliz recorded his 32nd save.
Texas starter Matt Harrison gave up one run and five hits in six innings.
Los Angeles’ Garrett Richards gave up one run and two hits in five innings. Richards started for Jered Weaver after the Angels shut down Weaver upon being eliminated from the wild card race Monday.