Jeremy Hellickson pushes the Tampa Rays to the top
Going into the game against the Minnesota twins, the Tampa Rays were without their star pitchers. The Rays went out without Shields, who enjoyed an amazing time against the Yankees in the previous competitive match. They came out on Monday in St. Petersburg, fielding a top prospect in the shape of Jeremy Hellickson.
Facing his debut game against a team with a good batch of batters, the rookie was passed on the torch to showcase his talents on the field and impress the management. Before Hellickson, the Rays fielded just five pitchers in the season. In comparison to the other participating ball clubs in the league, the number was considered to be highly adventurous and unreasonable. However, with the kind of hysteria rampant around Tampa Rays at the moment, the team can afford to try out new prospects and strategies on the pitch to refine and improve their game.
However, with the Tampa Rays going into the match with a new pitcher, Minnesota Twins were looking for a way to change their misfortunes before their competitive meetings with the Chicago White Sox would start soon. Unfortunately, the team had a bad performance record leading into the game, losing out their last three consecutive matches in Cleveland. In search of an improved start, the team went into the game believing they could muster up the right degree of energy to take the game away from their opponents and oust the pressure that has been subduing them from some time now. However, that wasn’t to be the case last night.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire had a hard task of reversing the team’s recent misfortunes and as the night began with two innings passing away with barely any hits made by either team. Those hits came off the first two innings and till then, the game was deadlocked. Tampa looked a bit strong, in terms of attention and that was something that has been considered a revelation for many baseball fans. The teams were bound to break horns and move towards a battle formation. The bottom 3rd innings marked the beginning of the rift between the two teams. Tampa hit twice to get their team in the lead with the help from a walk and a sacrifice from Bartlett. After Longoria singled to the shallow right, Brignac completed his run with a sprint to put the Rays ahead with a 1 run advantage.
Casilla responded in the top 4th inning by running past the last base in fashion for the Twins. J. Kubel opened up the space by slotting the ball on the right to give the third baseman a chance at clearing the last line. The game was opening up and both teams were gaining respectable momentum.
The action picked up again in the bottom 5th inning as Crawford jump started the scoring session by hitting the ball towards the deep left, leaving J. Jaso and the space required to score and take the Rays above the Twins. What came in next may be known as the hit of the match as M. Joyce banged the ball down the deep left center for a double. As a result, Longoria and Crawford crossed the last base and scored separately, bringing the score line to 4 against Minnesota’s 1.
In the following top 6th inning, Kubel came through again for the Twins to give them a chance at the game when he homered to the deep right. The deficit was pulled down to two, but then came a moment of brilliance from Jeremy Hellickson, who calmly struck out Michael Cuddyer. With that, another challenge came into the fold in the form of Jim Thome who is one of the best left handed powerhouse hitters of the recent age. The rookie took care of the versatile hitter without any serious trouble. The innings was considered a defining moment for the game as many spectators would have been expecting the pitcher to revel in pressure. The debutant struck out 6 players, while retiring ten to end his game on a positive note. With just a single run allowed, his role proved pivotal in steering the Rays to victory and allowing them to reach the top of the table as the Yankees lost out to the Blue Jays and left the door open for the team to dislodge the reigning champions.
Apart from the top sixth inning, Minnesota didn’t present any threat to the Rays who finished on top of the division table last night.
Jeremy’s role was looked on as an important factor in the Ray’s change in positions. However, he was soon recalled in the following hours by Triple-A Durham to retain his position in the squad. Subsequently he was optioned by the management.
The result leaves a great deal to be appreciated as the Rays have a great resource talent optioned around minor leagues. One can only expect what may come of the debutant in the future as the impression cast on his peers has been immensely positive.
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