Alex Cobb dominates as Tampa Bay Rays defeat Kansas City Royals 5-0 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays’ starter Alex Cobb had an outstanding day with the ball, as he crushed the opposing batting line-up to take his club into a 5-0 shut-out win in the rubber game of the series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on Sunday, July 24 to
avoid the series sweep.
The 23-year-old rookie hurler made just two strike-outs but he tossed a no-score seven innings to grab his third win of the season. The right-hand pitcher threw 61 strikes of 85 pitches. He has not lost any game since his first start against the Los Angeles
Angles on May 1.
Cobb was pitching brilliantly before developing a small blister in the seventh inning that forced the Rays’ manager Joe Maddon to relieve him with Cesar Ramos.
Alex was disappointed about not being able to throw at least eight innings in his third stint for the Rays.
"It was a big disappointment," Cobb said of the blister. "I wanted to throw at least eight innings, maybe nine. We are short in bullpen. I would have liked to have been able to help that out.”
There are lot of speculation about his come-back or move back to Triple-A due to this blister, however his performance has created some positivity for him. However, he himself was not sure of his going back to Triple-A or staying at the Majors, as he said
he kept on moving in his room thinking about entering Maddon’s office to ask him for another trip to Triple-A.
However being unbeaten in his first seven Major games, the only player in the Rays to gain this record, has real worth in the eyes of Maddon.
"No panic," Maddon said. "He threw strikes, let the defence play. He made the hitters swing the bat, was not walking people and getting into bad counts. That's why he was able to get through that relatively easy."
Ramos struck-out one batter in less than an inning, Joel Peralta threw less than one scoreless inning while Jake McGee tossed one-hitter one inning and took two batters.
Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce combined to score two runs in the third inning, while designated hitter Johnny Damon scored a third run in the sixth inning. Ben Zobrist also scored an RBI single in the sixth inning to take his team into 4-0 position. Zobrist
added another RBI in the eighth inning to finalise the game at 5-0.
The Royals’ starter Felipe Paulino scattered four runs on seven hits, walked two batters and struck-out six batters in over five innings to receive his fourth win of the season. Blake Wood and closer Louis Coleman did not allow any runs while Tim Collins
gave one run in less than an inning.
Tags: