Tampa Bay Rays beaten by Cleveland Indians 1-3 at Progressive Field – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Cleveland Indians 1-3 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday, July 5 in the opening game of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
With their win against the Rays, the Indians improved their record to 43-39 and they are now just two games behind the American League Central Division leaders, Chicago White Sox. It will be interesting to see if they can continue their excellent form throughout
this series to have any chance of replacing the White Sox before the All Star Break.
"This was just a good ballgame that was lost," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I have no problem with the way we played. Their guy (Tomlin) has been tough against us. He was sharp. Knowing that we have not been prodigious offensively probably gave him
the confidence to throw more strikes."
Jose Molina drove in the only Rays’ run in the fifth inning to reduce Indians’ lead to 1-2 but apart from him no other hitter could live up to expectations. For the Indians, Shin Soo Choo homered to right in the first inning and Michael Brantley added a
solo home-run to right-centre in the second inning.
Rays’ starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson took his fifth loss of the season as he gave up five hits in six innings with just three strike-outs.
"He's been phenomenal," said Michael Brantley. "It's nice to have somebody on base with the two, three, four guys coming up. It gives us a big boost, it's going to create more runs and hopefully he can keep swinging it the way he is. He looks real good."
Joe Maddon and company were unable to create enough scoring opportunities in a game that was very important to them. With just three wins in their last 10 appearances, the Rays are struggling to find a way to win games on a regular basis.
Right now, they are a mess but they should not consider themselves completely out of the playoff race as of yet. With the All Star Game coming up, Tampa Bay will have an excellent chance to sort things, especially their offence that has scored more than
four runs just once in their last 11 games.
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