Johnny Damon's homer helps the Tampa Bay Rays defeat Seattle Mariners 8-7 – MLB Update
Johnny Damon performed resplendently on Sunday, August 21 to help the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 8-7 at Tropicana Field.
The victory also resulted in the series sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays against the slumping Seattle Mariners.
The game saw its fair share of excitement when Damon’s lost the grand slam he had hit due to a video review. But he did not give up, rather kept his zeal for an outright victory, hitting the game ending run in the ninth.
"It feels good. It was a great team effort, again. The first pitch I was going to look to drive something," Damon said. "But after that I was going to think about bunting, maybe, and getting on base and set the table. Fortunately I hit it far enough."
For the Mariners, the series brought about a disappointment. "We were in position to win two out of the three games here and ended up losing both late," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "We just have to keep plugging."
Unlike previous games, Sunday’s encounter was a rather belligerent start for the Mariners. It was Mike Carp who had the first single scored followed by the homer of Casper Wells that put the Mariners on charge with 3-0 lead by the end of the first inning.
James Shields could not keep the Mariners at bay in the second inning either when Josh Bard ground out to second to score the fourth run for the team. The Rays, on the other hand, had their first run coming off Matt Joyce’s bat in the second inning.
John Jaso followed with another single to bring the Mariners lead down to 4-2. While Pineda pitched well, Franklin Gutierrez scored the fifth run against the Rays in the fourth with the struggling Shields unable to hold back the Mariners’ offence.
Ben Zobrist had his hit in the sixth to make it three for the Tampa Bay Rays while Shields pitched a scoreless seventh as the score stood at 5-3. John Jaso drove in a single and Johnny Damon had the biggest hit of the night making it 7-5 for the Rays.
Wily Mo Pena of the Seattle soon levelled the score with his two-run homer in the eighth. As the game tied 7-7 at the end of eighth, Damon hit a homer that proved the game winning run for the Tampa Bay Rays, also helping them to sweep the series with magnificence.
The Rays put in a brilliant effort as they managed to contain the Mariners’ offence. Seattle will be looking to improve their performance in the next series they will face.
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