Rays reign: Tampa Bay takes down Mets to clinch AL East title
NEW YORK (AP) — Randy Arozarena homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years Wednesday night with an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets.
Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays, who will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a best-of-three first-round playoff series beginning next Tuesday.
It is the third division crown in franchise history for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and 2010. After missing a chance to clinch Tuesday, they went into Wednesday again needing just a win or a New York Yankees loss against Toronto to lock up the division championship.
The Rays (37-20) broke a 2-all tie in the sixth and took care of business themselves.
