Oakland Athletics outclass Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 to win the series – MLB Update
Oakland Athletics once again showed that they are an unpredictable team as they floored the inform Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida in the decisive finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular
season.
With their win on Sunday, May 6, the Athletics also improved their win-loss record to 15-14 and it will be exciting to see if they can put up similar numbers against other top MLB teams this season to make it to the playoffs.
Rays’ loss to the Athletics on Sunday was their only third at Tropicana Field. With 10 home wins, they have given the fans plenty to cheer about since the start of the season. Desmond Jennings, Carlos Pena, Matt Joyce, Luke Scott and Sean Rodriguez put up
a fine show to help the Rays take a handsome 4-0 lead in the first inning and it seemed they will cruise to an easy victory but the Athletics had other ideas. Fighting back, Oakland took an impassable 8-4 in the fifth, thanks to J Gomes and Brandon Inge’s
efforts.
"That home run was huge. It felt like a 10-run homer," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "To be down and then take the lead with that homer -- it was probably the biggest hit we had on the trip."
"He just got out of whack," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He couldn't throw a strike where he wanted to with the fastball. He has a great fastball, he just doesn't know where it's going all the time quite yet. I've seen that before with our other young
pitchers, so he's going to be fine."
The Rays will be disappointed at the fact their winning streak is over now. Joe Maddon and company looked in commanding form since sweeping New York Yankees in their first series of the season. After they secured a comfortable 7-2 win against Oakland in
the opening game, Tampa Bay was the favourites to win the series. However, despite having all the odds against them, the Athletics stood firm and they surprised their rivals in the final two games to fittingly win the series.
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