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OAKLAND, Calif. — Major league hitters shattered the single-season record for home runs this year, so the start of the wild-card games was fitting. In both of them, a ball cleared an outfield fence before the first out.
It was Yandy Diaz, the Tampa Bay Rays’ muscular leadoff man, on Wednesday who drove a fastball from the Oakland Athletics’ Sean Manaea over the right-field wall at the Coliseum. Diaz did it again in the third inning, between homers by his teammates Avisail Garcia and Tommy Pham.
“They kind of beat us with our game,” said Bob Melvin, the Oakland manager, after the Rays’ 5-1 victory.