Oakland Athletics defeat Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 for back-to-back win – MLB Update
The Oakland Athletics overpowered the rivals Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 in the second straight night at O.co Coliseum in Oakland on Tuesday, July 26 to take a 2-0 lead in the four-game series.
The A’s starter Brandon McCarthy tossed a gritty eight innings to snatch his third win of the season. He held the opposing batters scoreless until the top of the eighth inning, when the Rays’ Ben Zobrist sent his wobbly pitch out of the park for a one-run
homer. He also went for six hits and walked two batters while striking-out three sluggers over 113 pitches to make a little improvement in his record that moved to 3-5 with 3.52 ERA.
He received full support from the batters in the shape of stormy hitting against the Rays’ starter David Price. Jemile Weeks hit a sacrifice fly to right-field, scoring Scott Sizemore in the third inning and then David DeJesus also added a single in the
fourth inning. Hideki Matsui doubled to deep-right in the fifth and Cliff Pennington scored a double in the sixth to take his team to 4-0.
As Price has allowed four runs and seven hits along with four walks over six innings, his manager Joe Maddon replaced him with reliever Jay Buente to stop the A’s bat. He pitched one scoreless innings, but after Zobrist launched a one-run homer in the top
of the eighth, Buente gave an RBI double to Kurt Suzuki in the bottom to finalise the score 6-1.
"It's getting old," Price said. "... The way I have been pitching. ... We just need to play better. It starts with pitching. And that's me."
The A’s closer Grant Balfour tossed a perfect ninth inning to take his team into their 46th win of the season.
The Rays struggled in both forms of game, as their batters entered for combined 33 at-bats but managed only seven hits. Johnny Damon, Evan Longoria, Casey Kotchman, N.J. Upton, Matt Joyce, Robinson Chirinos and Sean Rodriguez each remained 0-for-4.
"We just have to do better, the lack of offense popped up and beat us again," Rays’ manager Joe Maddon said. "Oakland starter Brandon McCarthy did pitch well. I do not want to take anything away from him."
Tampa Bay Rays have lost eight of their last 12 games since the start of the second half of the 2011 MLB regular season. The only positive thing for the Rays, was the 704th game start by a pitcher younger than 30-years-old.
Oakland Athletics have made a relatively good start of the second half of the 2011 regular season, as they have won seven of their last eleven games. If they keep this form, they can make their way back into the season.
Tags: