Detroit Tigers lose to Tampa Bay Rays 2-4 in low scoring thriller – MLB Update
Detroit Tigers lost to Tampa Bay Rays 2-4 in a low scoring thriller at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Friday, June 29 in the second game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
The win will be of great importance for the Rays who have struggled to achieve their desired results over the last couple of weeks. Detroit was the more disciplined team in series opener in which they flattened the Rays 5-2.
However, despite having the winning momentum on their side, Jim Leyland and company looked short of answers on Friday evening and Tampa Bay took their opportunities to level the series 1-1.
In some ways, it was a very disappointing loss for the Tigers who are now 37-40, five games behind the American League Central Division leaders, Chicago White Sox. Ace Justin Verlander took his fifth loss of the season despite putting up a powerful show.
Verlander had lost five decisions in the entire season last year and it seems as if he may not be able to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award this season.
Credit should be given to Rays’ starting pitcher David Price who outpitched his counterpart from the Tigers, leading his team to a much needed victory. With their win, the Rays also snapped their four-game losing streak in which they were sloppy in defence
and showed inability to score runs.
"Any time a pitcher's going to tell me that the back is bothering him, I'm definitely going to take him out of the game," Rays’ manager Joe Maddon said.
Luke Scott grounded out to first in the first inning and Carlos Pena scored to put the Rays 1-0 ahead. Desmond Jennings had another multi-homer game as he belted two mighty home-runs to play a key role in deciding the outcome of the game.
Ben Zobrist also made his presence felt. He homered to right in the fourth inning to extend Rays’ lead to 3-0. Delmon Young homered for the Tigers and Prince Fielder earned an RBI groundout to short-stop but the Rays held on to their slim lead to complete
their deserving victory.
Tags: