Cleveland Indians crushed by Tampa Bay Rays 0-6 – MLB Recap
The Cleveland Indians were shutout by the Tampa Bay Rays 0-6 in the fourth and final game of their four-match regular series encounter on Thursday, July 19 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
Indians were defeated quite comprehensively as they were never able to show their natural offensive game and lost with bitter humiliation.
Their entire batting line-up failed against the fast and curving pitches of the Rays’ pitchers who literally handcuffed the Indians' top batting line-up.
Despite the series was levelled 2-2 but overall the Rays’ performance was far better than the Indians.
Rays' manager Joe Maddon discussed his team's combined effort and said, "I'd say he's in the top two or three (AL pitchers), no question, From a purely selfish perspective, I'd say he is the best right now."
Tampa Bay won the second and fourth game of the series but with big margins at the same time, the Indians won two games but those were quite close encounters.
In Thursday’s game, the Indians’ batters did not play well and could not even a score a run.
They looked tired and could not capitalise on their offensive power and lost with much humiliation.
Indians manager Manny Acta said, "That's why I felt that (Wednesday's) win was so important for us, because you really don't want come into the last game of the series trying to tie the series against David Price."
David Price certainly played well and earned a great victory for the Rays.
He pitched seven innings and did not receive any run. He retired seven batters as his ERA also remained consistent at 2.64.
Price said, "My fastball's gotten better, I have more velocity; it's consistent throughout the entire game. The curveball's better and my cutter is more consistent right now. I throw my changeup whenever I need to and that's a little tougher for those guys."
Ubaldo Jimenez on the other hand, did not play well for the Indians and was hit with five runs along with seven hits. He also gave five earned runs along with one homer as his ERA rose to 5.24 and literally proved disastrous for the Indians.
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