Tampa Bay Rays beaten by Atlanta Braves 0-2 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays lost to Atlanta Braves 0-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, May 20 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
The game was played on an extremely competitive note and Joe Maddon and company had several opportunities to score but for once the offence failed to live up to the expectations and the Rays paid the ultimate price. Rays’ series loss against the Braves damaged
their record to 25-17 and it will be interesting to see if they can find their form in their next series against Toronto Blue Jays.
Braves' starting pitcher Tim Hudson had another excellent outing against the Rays as he gave up just four hits and no run in seven solid innings. The starter played a key role in denting Rays’ confidence levels.
He retired nine in a row to improve his record against Tampa Bay to 8-1. David Ross displayed some high quality hitting skills as he homered in the third to break the deadlock. For the Rays, starting pitcher David Price allowed only two runs and six hits
in seven innings but he was unable to beat Atlanta.
"He's been good all year, and his whole career," Hudson said. "You knew runs were going to be tough to come by. That two-run lead felt it was an eight-run lead because you didn't expect to get a whole lot today."
"It caught me in mid-stride," Carlos Pena said. "It was just a helpless feeling because I couldn't go anywhere. I think I was in the air when the ball was hit, and it was a rocket. It was just bad luck. If I played it less aggressively, the wrong way, maybe
I'm able to stop, back off and we score two runs."
Tampa Bay will be disappointed to lose the series after putting up a brilliant show in the second game. Atlanta had the better of their opponents in the opening game when they clinched a narrow 5-3 win. However, the way the Rays fought back in the following
game had given their fans hopes of series’ win against one of the strongest teams of this season.
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