Luke Scott shines as Tampa Bay Rays floor Cleveland Indians 10-3 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays secured a thumping 10-3 win against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio in the second game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Ben Zobrist provided Tampa Bay with an excellent start as he homered to right-centre in the first inning to put his side 2-0 ahead. The Indians fought back immediately to level the score 2-2 in the first.
Luke Scott had an excellent outing with the bat as hit a two run home-run to centre in the fifth inning to extend Rays’ lead to 6-2. Eric Johnson, Zobrist and B.J. Upton continued to put pressure on Cleveland’s pitching attack, adding four more runs in the
fifth.
"I didn't think I got it all, but knew I hit it good," Scott said. "I just felt relief, felt thankful."
"Take a 300-pound gorilla and pull it off my back, that's how it feels," he added. "I just felt relief, felt thankful."
Starting pitcher Alex Cobb earned his fourth win of the season, pitching six effective innings. It was only the second time the Rays scored more than four runs in their last 12 games and credit must be given to the offence for producing a masterful performance
at the right time.
"I was just trying to be friendly," Indians’ starter Justin Masterson said. "He was struggling quite a bit, coming close to a record. I figured, what the heck, let's give him an opportunity to get out of that. He's a good guy. It's just people helping people."
In some ways, it was an extremely important win for the Rays and surely the players will be feeling a lot more confident about themselves. With just four wins in their last ten games, the Rays have struggled to find momentum over the last few weeks.
The All Star Break will provide them with an excellent opportunity to work on the weaker areas of their game-play. It will be interesting to see if Joe Maddon and company can produce similar performances in the upcoming two games of this series to finish
on a high note before the All Star Break.
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