Derek Holland brilliant but Texas Rangers lose to Tampa Bay Rays 1-3 – MLB Update
Texas Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Rays 1-3 in a thrilling encounter at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Friday, September 7 in the opening game of their three match series.
Rays, once again, showed just what they are capable of, giving up just a run against the best hitting team in the American League. A lot of credit goes to starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson who allowed just four hits in six effective innings to keep the
Rangers on the defensive.
However, the star of the show was Ben Zobrist who hit a towering home-run under pressure to hand the Rays a much needed victory. With their win, the Rays improved their record to 76-62 and they are now just two games behind the American League East Division
leaders, New York Yankees.
"I've never had a walk-off home run before in my life, regardless of whether it was Little League or high school or college," Zobrist said. Manager Joe Maddon could not have asked for a better result in must win games. He will be expecting his men to put
up another powerful show on Saturday to take an impassable 2-0 series lead.
"The fifth inning was a little long," Hellickson said. "I could have gone back out, but with the bullpen we have, there was no reason not to go to them. I mean, they've been doing that all season."
Rangers, on the other hand, were unfortunate to lose after they did all the right things during the contest. Starting pitcher Derek Holland struck-out a season high eleven batters in eight solid innings, allowing just two hits and run. Relief pitcher Mark
Lowe took the loss after he was hit for a two run home-run by Zobrist in the eleventh inning.
"I'm definitely pleased, but at the same time I'm pretty upset," Holland said. "A win is what we really want."
After the Rays took an early 1-0 lead, Michael Young connected for a solo home-run in the fifth inning but Rays were too hot to handle at their home ballpark as they snatched the victory from the jaws of defeat.
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