Rays rally to beat Rangers, 6-3, and avoid elimination

Pitcher Matt Garza took a long pause before describing how the Rays’ offense rallied to hold off elimination Saturday night.

“The things we can count on are pitching and defense,” Garza said after the Rays rallied for five runs in the final two innings to take a 6-3 victory over the Rangers in Game 3 of their American League Division Series. “Our offense, it’s timely hitting, and that’s all we’ve been doing all year.

“We might not knock numbers off the moon with our batting average, but we score runs and do it in many ways.”

The Rays were two for 19 with runners in scoring position in the ALDS before Carlos Pena and John Jaso produced run-scoring singles that gave them a 3-2 lead in the eighth. The Rays, who had eight hits in their first two games of this season, came through with 11 hits.

Carl Crawford and Pena, each of whom could have been playing their final games with the Rays if they had lost, capped the late outburst with home runs in the ninth inning. Both are free agents at the end of this season.

“Right now I am just happy we won,” said Crawford, who made a diving catch to rob Josh Hamilton of a hit in the eighth. “I was so nervous hoping that we didn’t get swept. We got so close, just to get out of that, it feels much better.

“I almost feel like — it feels like we’re winning the series right now.”

The Rays still must win two more games to complete a remarkable comeback, but they managed to frustrate the Rangers, who were five outs away from completing a sweep before a disappointed crowd of 51,746 — the largest ever at Rangers Ballpark.

Rangers Manager Ron Washington had no regrets about emptying his bullpen. He pulled starter Colby Lewis after five-plus innings of shutout ball because the Rays had several left-handed hitters coming up in the sixth.

After pitching a scoreless seventh, Darren Oliver started the eighth but Pena, a .179 hitter against left-handers during the regular season, foiled the strategy when he ripped a game-tying single to right.

Washington then summoned closer Neftali Feliz, but he walked Jason Bartlett before Jaso delivered the go-ahead hit.

“I don’t think we gave them anything,” Washington said. “I think the runs they put on the board were earned. I didn’t see us booting balls around.”

As for the Rays, Manager Joe Maddon hopes the final two innings were a sign of better things to come for a team that barely resembled the group that won 96 games and the AL East.

“I want us to understand the moment and just stay involved,” Maddon said.

mgonzales@tribune.com