Tampa Bay Rays beat Baltimore Orioles 5-3 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays continued their marvellous winning streak as they beat the inform Baltimore Orioles 5-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Monday, October 1 in the opening game of their three match series.
Rays executed their game plan to perfection in a game that was played on a fighting note. With nine wins in their last ten games, the Rays have certainly raised the level of their game-play in these closing stages of the season.
Tampa Bay still has an obvious chance of making it to the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if they can continue their good work in their next two games to tie with Baltimore Orioles for the second place on American League East Division standings table.
Rays’ starting pitcher Alex Cobb put up a magical show as he gave up just two hits and one run in seven solid innings to grab his 11th win of the season. Striking-out seven batters, he created all sorts of problems for the Orioles’ batting line-up.
"We've played 12 playoff games and we've won 11 of them," said Maddon. "But we do need help, there's no question about that. Again, regardless, I just love the way our guys are going about their business."
"It is frustrating when it's out of your hands, but we put ourselves in that position. We could have held our own destiny," Cobb said. "Even coming into the last road trip we had that chance, but we let a couple slip that we wish we could have had back,
but we're doing all we can now with what we have."
Relief pitchers Jake McGee, Kyle Farnsworth and Fernando Rodney combined to toss up three effective innings to help Rays secure a much needed victory. Orioles’ starter Wei Yin Chen gave up six hits and four runs in six plus innings to suffer his 11th loss
of the season.
Ben Zobrist homered to left in the fourth inning to break the deadlock and put his side on the board. Ben Francisco, Carlos Gimenez and Carlos Pena drove in crucial runs to put Rays in a commanding position at 5-1.
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