Ben Zobrist’s decisive RBI helps Tampa Bay Rays defeat Seattle Mariners 3-2 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays’ second baseman, Ben Zobrist had an excellent day with the bat as he hit a leading RBI and went 1-for-3 with an average of .283 in the Rays’ 3-2 win against the Seattle Mariners at Tropicana Field, Seattle on August 19.
In the first two innings, pitchers were dominating over the batters through their outstanding throws. At the top of first inning, Ichiro Suzuki flied out, Franklin Gutierrez lined out and Adam Kennedy struck-out without contributing any run for Mariners.
Similarly, Rays were also shaky with their batting as Desmond Jennings lined out to left-field, Johnny Damon struck-out and at centre-field, Evan Longoria flied out, at the bottom of first inning.
Zobrist walked at the bottom of second inning but the rest of Rays’ players got out as at centre-field, B.J. Upton flied out and Casey Kotchman fouled out to third base. Mariners scored their initial run at the top of third inning and took a 1-0 lead. Gutierrez
hit a grounder into fielder’s choice to short-stop position and Trayvon Robinson posted a single run. Later on, Gutierrez moved to second base on the throwing error of Rays’ short-stop Sean Rodriguez.
Fourth inning was score-less for both teams as the pitchers threw the ball beautifully. Rays’ starter, Wade Davis gave up seven hits, two runs, two walks, one home-run and one earned run in his seven innings pitches with an ERA of 4.43. He struck-out eight
batters on his 114 pitches.
Upton said, “The biggest play of the game was Johnny beating that ball out. That's why we play the game the way we do.”
Rays kept themselves alive as Upton scored a single run to tie the game 1-1 during fifth inning when John Jaso bunted a sacrifice fly towards first base and Matt Joyce moved to second base. In the seventh inning, Mariners went ahead 2-1 when Kyle Seager
hit a solo homer (393 feet) to right-field.
Eighth inning was in favour of the Rays as they smashed two runs to get a 3-2 lead. Longoria singled to left-field and Sam Fuld added a tie run for Rays while Damon contributed a tie-breaking run when Zobrist drove a single-run shot towards centre-field.
Longoria occupied second base to end the eighth inning.
However, Rays led off the three-game series 1-0, after having an exciting victory.
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