Detroit Tigers crush Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 in series opener – MLB Update
Detroit Tigers crushed their arch rivals Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday, June 28 in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Starting pitcher Max Scherzer had one of his career best outings on Thursday as he struck-out seven in six sharp innings to set up an easy win for the Tigers. Third baseman Miguel Cabrera also looked very comfortable on the mound with four hits. He drove
in two runs to keep the pressure on the Rays.
"As difficult as the time is for me, you know for me it's about going out there and pitching well and helping the team," Scherzer said in a post game interview. "We want to win. Any time I can go out there and give our team a chance to win, that's what I'm
all about."
"We were able to swing the bat good. When you swing good (good things happen)," said Cabrera, who's averaging .312 with 16 homers and 62 RBIs this season.
The win will be of great importance for the Tigers, who had lost two out of three against the Texas Rangers in their previous series. Right now, Jim Leyland and company are placed third on the American League Central Division with a decent 37-39 record.
Although the Tigers are four games behind the league leaders Chicago White Sox, they still have a chance to make it to the playoffs for the second straight year.
The biggest problem for the Tigers this season has remained their offence. After spending a great amount of money on the hitting line-up, the General Manager Dave Dombrowski would have expected the offence to score on regular basis. However, that has not
turned out be the case so far with Tigers relying on their bullpen resources for most part of the season.
It will be very interesting to see if the Tigers can come up with similar performances in their next games to narrow the gap between themselves and the White Sox on the league standings table.
Tags: