Oakland Athletics defeat Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 to clinch series 2-1 – MLB Update
The Oakland Athletics managed to snatch another win over the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in the third game of the three-game series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Sunday, August 7 to clinch the series 2-1.
Josh Willingham launched a huge homer in the tenth inning against the Rays’ closer Jake McGee to take his club into a walk off win in the tenth inning.
"It was a tough one," McGee said.
Before this hit, the A’s were under extreme pressure because they had not scored since the top of the fifth inning, but it provided a huge sigh of relief in their camp. Their closer Andrew Bailey tossed a perfect bottom of the tenth to convert this relief
into the A’s second straight win over the Rays.
The A’s starter Trevor Cahill allowed game opening run to the Rays’ designated hitter Johnny Damon on an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. He then gave away two more run, one on a homer to Casey Kotchman and other to Desmond Jennings on a line
drive RBI single, in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The A’s opened their account in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single by centre-fielder Ryan Sweeney. In the top of the fifth inning, Hideki Matsui brewed a striking 374-feet long two-run homer to tie the game at three-all. David DeJesus then scored
on a wild pitch by the Rays’ relief hurler J.P. Howell to take the A’s into 4-3 leading position in the top of the fifth inning.
"It feels great," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "Everybody contributed."
The game turned into interesting session when the Rays’ Evan Longoria hit a 389-feet long home-run to tie the game at 4-all in the bottom of the seventh inning. It started the contest among the hurlers of both side. The A’s Fautino De Los Santos competed
against the Rays’ Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth inning to get his first win of the season. Closer Bailey then crushed with his 13 strikes of 16 pitches in the tenth inning to get his 13th save of the season.
"All the stuff that we've been struggling with, a good win for us," Melvin said. "It's well documented, our struggles on the road. We needed, for many reasons, an outcome like this. Guys are feeling a lot better about it."
McGee could not stabilise throughout the tenth inning, he allowed one walk and tossed 23 pitches, allowing one run on one hit to lose his first game of the season. It was the blow for the Rays’ as their pitcher had popularity of one of the strongest closers
of the season.
The wounded Rays now will take on Kansas City Royals in the first of the four-game series.
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