Johnny Damon’s four RBIs help Tampa Bay Rays defeat St. Louis Cardinals 8-3 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays’ utility player, Johnny Damon had an outstanding day as he went 3-for-5 with an average of .284 and hit four RBIs in the Rays’ 8-3 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals at Tropicana Field, Florida on July 3.
Jon Jay singled to centre-field but the Cardinals’ batters were unable to score runs as Ryan Theriot was struck-out swinging and Matt Holliday flied out towards right-field at the top of the first inning. The Rays’ offence also looked ineffective as Damon
flied out to right-field and Matt Joyce grounded out to short-stop at the bottom of the first inning.
Yadier Molina hit a solo homer (423 feet) towards centre-field to put the first run on the Cardinals’ score-card. The game was tied 1-1 in the third inning when the Rays’ catcher John Jaso posted a single run and Elliot Johnson was grounded out to second
base.
The pitchers got a hold in the fourth inning as they did not give away even a single run during their respective pitches. The Rays’ starter, Jeremy Hellickson was economical throughout the game as he threw just over seven innings with an ERA of 3.21 and
allowed just three runs on six hits with three earned runs. He was able to strike-out two batters and permitted one walk on his 94 pitches.
The Rays went ahead 3-1 during the fifth inning when Johnson and Damon both posted two runs collectively on the throwing error of the Cardinals’ second baseman Skip Schumaker. In the sixth inning, the Cardinals scored two runs to reduce their lead while
the Rays also contributed two runs at the bottom of the sixth inning.
Lance Berkman struck a two-run homer (398 feet) towards left-field and Holliday added one run for the Cardinals. On the other hand, Joyce scored a single on the double-run shot of B.J. Upton. The last run of the sixth inning was taken by Upton when Jaso
doubled off deep right-field. The score-card advanced to 5-3 after the sixth inning.
Seventh inning went without any run but the Rays extended their lead during the eighth inning by exploding three runs and got an 8-3 lead. Jaso, Sean Rodriguez and Johnson each completed three combined runs when Damon tripled towards deep centre-field.
After the last two consecutive wins, the Rays defeated the Cardinals 2-1 in a three-game series at Florida.
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