New York Yankees 2012 regular season review – Part 2
Tampa Bay Rays continued their excellent form in Game 2 of the series as well as they edged the New York Yankees 8-6 to take a decisive 2-0 series lead. Credit should also be given to the Yankees for putting up a solid fight in a game that was played on an extremely competitive note but the night belonged to the Rays who showed nerves of steel under pressure to secure another outstanding win against their American League East Division rivals.
Rays’ starting pitcher David Price produced a match winning performance for his side as he allowed just five hits and two runs in a high scoring contest. Striking out batters at regular intervals in his six plus innings, Price kept Yankees on the defensive with some high quality throwing abilities. Closer Fernando Rodney had another great outing as he held off the Yankees in the ninth to save his first game of the season.
Yankees’ starter Hiroki Kuroda paid the ultimate price for his errors on the mound as he allowed eight hits and six runs in just over five innings to take his first loss of the season. Relief pitcher Clay Rapada was also unable to stop the flow of runs as he gave up two earned runs in just 0.2 inning of relief.
"That's what we talked about. We needed or wanted to see some significant power adjustment," manager Joe Maddon said.
"Power is also driving in runs," Maddon added. "It's not just hitting home runs. These guys have done a nice job."
"We're two games in right now. It hasn't really gone the way we would have liked for it to. But, hey, that's the name of the game," New York's Nick Swisher said. "We just got to keep battling, keep fighting, stick together as a team because we're going to do a lot of special things."
Luke Scott and Carlos Pena combined to put Rays 3-0 ahead in the second inning. Matt Joyce smacked solo home run to right to extend the lead to 4-0. For New York, Andrew Jones, Raul Ibanez and Nick Swisher made valuable contributions but their effort went in vain.
Tags: