Ace David Price went the distance and Evan Longoria clubbed the deciding homer as Tampa Bay beat Texas 5-2 in a winner-take-all contest to send the Rays into the playoffs.
Tampa Bay and the Rangers came into Monday's game with identical 91-71 records with the winner earning the right to play in Cleveland on Wednesday.
"It was fitting to have to go through these guys to get to the post season," Longoria said. "We have had some heartbreaks against them in the past."
Starting pitcher Price made sure the Rays moved on by limiting the Rangers to two runs on seven hits in front of a crowd of 42,796. He struck out four, walked one and retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced to complete his gem.
Price went the distance for the fourth time this year in the game that determined the second wild card winner in the American League.
"It was pretty special. He (manager Joe Maddon) let me go the distance. I appreciate it," said the reigning AL Cy Young award winner Price. "I been lobbying for more pitches for the last two years now. I don't know how many I threw tonight."
Longoria reached base in four of his five at bats, adding a walk, a single and a double to a home run that sent Tampa Bay into the playoffs for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
"Shoot, if I play like that during the playoffs then we might have some pretty good success," Longoria said.
The Rays have the day off on Tuesday before playing the Indians in a one-game playoff, with the winner playing the Boston Red Sox in the division series.
On Wednesday, the Rays will face rookie starter Danny Salazar, who began the year in Double-A but has a respectable 3.12 ERA in 10 games for the Indians.
This was the first one-game tiebreaker since 2009 when Minnesota defeated Detroit to determine the AL Central.
It was a disappointing return for disgraced Texas outfielder Nelson Cuz who went zero-for-four at the plate, including one strikeout.
Cruz was playing his first game since being slapped with a 50-game drug ban for his involvement with the Biogenesis Clinic.
"I am disappointed," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "We didn't get it done. We made a run at the end. I got no excuses."
