Miami Marlins beat Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 in Grapefruit encounter - MLB Update
Austin Kearns takes Miami Marlins to a 4-2 victory against Tampa Bay Rays in a game played at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida on March 14, 2012 during their Spring Training Grapefruit League contest.
Marlins were dominant from the start and as they piled on their lead in third and fourth, Tampa Bay met with a plethora of scoreless innings. It took the passage of eight innings for Rays to score a run. Rays two runs in the ninth though were significant
in terms of their likely transformation into a tie as they were short of catching the Marlins’ lead.
Miami’s starting pitchers almost went through like a breeze in initial six innings. Starter Anibal Sanchez pitched two scoreless innings while drawing four strike-outs and being hit twice. Even better was Wade LeBlanc who spent four innings on the mound
and the fact he did not concede any run, in fact got one strike-out, he was rightly accorded the win in the end.
"The pitches moved a lot today, especially my changeup," Sanchez said. "If everything can work out I can have a good season."
So impressed was their manager Ozzie Guillen that to him seeing Sanchez hoodwinking batters so cheaply was a complete surprise as he never expected anything like this from him.
"He did a lot better than what I thought," Guillen said. "First time out, most of the people who have a little bit of pain or were having pain in the past, they kind of worry about it. He just went out and did what he's going to do and pitched a good ballgame.
He threw strikes."
As for Tampa Bay, only Jesus Feliciano and Bradley Coon were able to complete their run. Infielder Coon while facing two at-bats made one hit and scored one run.
Along with Kearns who contributed to three RBIs while gaining a hit thrice in all three at-bats he confronted, Brett Hayes was another stand out performer for the Marlins. As he found two hits in three at-bats and scored one including an RBI, he spells many
positives for the side.
As Marlins have surged to a terrific .667 PCT on the table, keeping momentum at the same level will be important in their next games for them to experience more victories.
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