Jeremy Hellickson gives three homers as Tampa Bay Rays eliminated from playoffs – MLB Update
The Tampa Bay Rays’ starter Jeremy Hellickson failed in the must-win fourth outing of the five-game series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, October 4 as the team lost 3-4 to the Texas Rangers.
After shutting the Texas Rangers out 9-0 in the first outing of the playoffs, the Rays dropped two consecutive matchups, first with 8-6 and second after giving some tough time with 4-3. Facing a win-stay condition, the Rays employed 24-year-old Hellickson
to start Game 4 of the American League Division Series to remove the mistakes of David Price.
Rays were optimistic of their comeback in the season, hoping their right-hand hurler would put in his best effort. Hellickson was facing his first experience to start a post-season outing. He had displayed a considerably good performance in the regular season,
in which he recorded 13-10 with a solid 2.95 ERA. His 29 starts were crucial for him to justify his presence in the Rays’ pitching depth.
Hellickson entered the field with a passion to put his best ever performance, but his second pitch wrote his defeat. After beating Ian Kinsler with a strike, Hellickson gave a straight easy-to-pick pitch, which Kinsler launched for a game opening homer to
left-field.
The same scenario was repeated in start of the second inning, when Adrian Beltre followed a fastball and touched for a 413-feet long homer off Hellickson. It completely disturbed Hellickson’s concentration, but he managed a little strike back and threw a
hitless third inning. However, the after-effects of the homers awakened again in the top of the fourth inning.
He opened the inning with a strike and then got Michael Young on a line-out, but facing Beltre again disturbed him. He tossed two balls and a strike, before permitting Beltre his second home-run of the game. This hit elevated the Rangers to 3-1 up the middle
of the fourth inning.
Rays’ manager Joe Maddon was startled, looking at the way his top pitcher received devastating blows. Hellickson worked only 47 pitches and permitted four hits, including three homers, before Maddon forced him out and handed the ball to Matt Moore. However,
this spell not only ended the Rays’ journey in the 2011 season but also sent Hellickson at stake.
Tampa Bay struggled hard in the month of September to enter into the playoffs, but their journey was not more than four more days.
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