Cliff Lee took the hump last night in the ALDS playoff game between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays and before the night was over fanned 11 in an impressive outing that punched his team’s ticket to a series against the New York Yankees.

Regardless of which team won this playoff, the series was going to be historic. The Rays were fighting to be just the eighth team to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the Division Series after winning a pair of games on the road in Arlington.

Instead, it was the Rangers making history with their first ever series win in the postseason. Additionally, this was the first time in MLB history that the road team won every game of a playoff series.

Lee made the most of his start for Texas and shut down the Rays. He pitched a complete game, allowing just a single run and six hits to the solid Rays’ lineup. On the night, in addition to the 11 strikeouts, Lee showed great control walking zero.

Offensively, Texas scored early with aggressive base running. After getting on base to lead off the game, Elvis Andrus was on second base with Josh Hamilton up. As David Price delivered, Andrus broke for third. Hamilton hit a slow ground ball to Carlos Pena, who tossed to Price to record the out. Andrus never stopped running, hesitating just for a second at third base before taking off toward the plate. He scored without a throw, giving the Rangers a quick 1-0 lead.

After the Rays tied it up in the third, Nelson Cruz led off the fourth inning with a double. Cruz should have been on third had he not watched the flight of what he thought was a homerun. Cruz attempted to steal third with Vladimir Guerrero up, and Rays’ catcher John Jaso threw the ball into left field, giving the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Vladimir Guerrero had some fine base running of his own; scoring from second after the Rays failed to turn a double play in the sixth.

Ian Kinsler added a two run homerun off Rafael Soriano in the ninth, but Cliff Lee retired the Rays in order to send the Rangers to their first ever ALCS.

The Rangers will now face the New York Yankees in a best of seven series starting Thursday in Texas. While the pitching matchup hasn’t been officially set, it will likely be CC Sabathia vs. C.J. Wilson because Cliff Lee will be unavailable.

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

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