Rangers lose regular-season closer in 10th

The Rangers tried to give the 2016 regular season finale a fitting end to their season but the Tampa Bay Rays scored twice in the 10th and held on for a 6-4 win Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Park.

The Rangers, who had a league-leading 36 one-run wins and 49 comeback wins, tied the Rays with runs in the eighth and ninth to force extra innings but couldn’t finish the job.

Hanser Alberto singled up the middle to score Jared Hoying to tie it at 4-4 in the ninth. Hoying started the inning with a single and moved to third on Robinson Chirinos’ single.

With two outs and the winning run at second base, Joey Gallo struck out

The Rangers, who clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason with Friday’s win, host Game 1 of the best-of-five ALDS on Thursday. They’ll play the winner of the AL wild card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. The Blue Jays host the Orioles Tuesday night.

Pitching: Martin Perez allowed three runs (two earned) in three innings. Perez was pulled after 62 pitches since the outcome of the game was unimportant to the Rangers. Jose Leclerc pitched two perfect innings behind Perez and Jeremy Jeffress pitched a scoreless sixth. Jake Diekman started the seventh and allowed a run on a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Dario Alvaraez took over for the final out in the seventh and threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Keone Kela pitched a scoreless ninth. The Rays scored twice in the 10th against Tanner Scheppers, who allowed three hits and two walks and took the loss.

Hitting: The Rangers pulled to within 2-1 on Ryan Rua’s run-scoring single in the second. Jonathan Lucroy’s solo homer in the fourth cut the Rays’ lead to 3-2. Jurickson Profar walked with the bases loaded to drive in a run and pull the Rangers to within 4-3 in the eighth. Delino DeShields struck out with the tying run at third to end the inning.

Notable: 37,015 was Sunday’s paid attendance ... the season total was 2,710,402 for an average of 33,462. It’s the 11th largest season total in Globe Life Park history.

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Rangers lose regular-season closer in 10th."