Matt Moore dominates as Tampa Bay Rays shut-out Texas Rangers 9-0 – MLB Playoffs
Matt Moore had an outstanding second start of his career, working shut-out innings to take his club to a 9-0 triumph in the first of the five playoffs games against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Friday, September 30.
The 22-year-old rookie pitcher aced his first inning taking a single batter and recorded his first shut-out inning of the game. Moore carried his performance to the second inning and then kept on going until his manager Joe Maddon took him off after the
seventh inning. Moore worked off 98 pitches in seven innings to grab his first ever win in the post-season.
It was his second career start, first was the toughest as he faced New York Yankees’ solid batting powerhouse on September 22. He had made an impression at Yankee Stadium, but winning in hitter-friendly environment at Arlington added a positive note to his
short career.
"Well, the thing is, my last start was at Yankee Stadium, and these guys put up two touchdowns by the fifth inning," Moore said. "And, you know, here we are again after I think the fourth or fifth and we had eight."
Moore is still run-less at this level despite facing Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson at Yankee Stadium and Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, and Michael Young in today’s outing.
Moore managed to receive a few words of praise from manager Joe Maddon, who expressed his pleasure saying, “you can’t be more impressed.”
"What he did tonight was spectacular," Maddon said. "What, seven innings, 97, 98 pitches, two hits? Great night."
Maddon was not the only one impressed to see the sliders, perfect changeups and brilliant combination pitches of the young hurler, but Rangers’ manager Ron Washington was also stunned. Ron tagged Moore as a special player with tremendous amount of talent.
Moore and the Rays put in a brilliant performance in Game 1 against the Texas Rangers. It will be interesting to see if the Rays manage to carry their winning momentum forward in this exciting series. The Rangers will be looking to improve their efforts
and not fall behind in the series.
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