Matt Wieters sparks as Baltimore Orioles defeat Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 – MLB Update
Jake Fox tied and Matt Wieters homered as American League East’s Baltimore Orioles beat Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 in the second outing at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday, September 13 to tie the three-game series 1-all.
With the club in a losing position before the start of the bottom of the seventh inning, left fielder Nolan Reimold walked and then stole second before Fox entered and punched an RBI generating double to deep left-centre. It tied the game at 1-all and then
in the bottom of the next, Wieters blistered a sky-high two-run home-run to left-field to take the Orioles into a commanding position.
It was the best thing for Showalter to see the 25-year-old Wieters in command. He spoke high of Matt.
"Matty has a chance to hit 20 home runs, and it seems like every one of them has been a big home run. He's just been a rock. I'm really proud of him. It's pretty easy to look prophetic when you're talking about someone with the upbringing of Matt Wieters."
Orioles rebound win shattered the Rays’ five game-winning streak, sending them under a real problem. Most importantly, the pace with which the Rays were keeping up to compete with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League has faced a
break.
Baltimore’s starter, Alfredo Simon got some decent back-up from his team-mates to his seven solid innings. Although giving six hits and two runs did not make him a winner, his nine strike-out effort got paid in words by a solo home-run launched.
"His stuff speaks for itself," Wieters said of Simon, who retired 12 straight at one point. "And once he can establish strikes early in the game, he can get them to chase some pitches that might be out of the zone. Strike one's big for any pitcher, but it's
especially big for him."
Maddon accepted it was not the night of his batters, who managed only seven hits in combined 33 at-bats. B.J Upton, designated hitter Johnny Damon, Casey Kotchman, Sean Rodriguez, John Jaso each touched a hit but none of these could turn it into a run except
Evan Longoria, who launched his 26th home-run of the season.
Rays received a blow and will be looking to retaliate with full form and come out with an outstanding performance if they have to keep pace with the Yankees and Red Sox.
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