Baltimore Orioles lose to Tampa Bay Rays 4-8 despite Matt Wieters heroics – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles were beaten by Tampa Bay Rays 4-8 at Tropicana Fielder in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, June 3 in the decisive finale of their three game series of the 2012 Major League Baseball.
Rays’ starting pitcher Matt Moore put up a fine pitching performance, giving up two runs and seven hits in just over six innings.
"Certain parts of the order, you'd really like to see him attack a little more," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said of Jake Arrieta, who took his seventh loss. "I know it's frustrating for him, you see how good he's capable of being through spurts. But you're always going to have one inning, and it seemed like he couldn't get through it."
"I didn't want to take a chance, especially as banged up as we are," Showalter said.
In some ways, the win will be of great importance for the Rays, who are now the leaders of the American League East Division. Orioles put up a decent fight but they were outplayed by their rivals in finer details of the game.
Baltimore, who prevailed 2-1 in the previous game, got off to a very positive start with Matt Wieters hitting a towering home run to left in the second inning to give them 1-0 lead. Matt Joyce had a sacrifice fly to centre in the fourth inning to bring Rays back into the contest.
Mark Reynolds helped his team level score 2-2 with an RBI single to left in the fifth inning as the game entered a very interesting phase. Rays’ took complete advantage of their home conditions. B. J. Upton drove in tie breaking two run double in the fifth to give his side a crucial 4-2 lead.
With momentum on their side, the Rays continued to score runs freely. Ben Zobrist scored on a throwing error by Orioles’ catcher Matt Wieters to extend lead to 6-2 in the sixth inning. Joe Maddon and company had an impassable 8-2 lead going into the seventh inning.
Reynolds homered to left and Wieters added an RBI single for Orioles in closing stages of the game but the Rays held on to their lead comfortably to secure an emphatic series victory.
Tags: