Tampa Bay Rays beaten by Miami Marlins 2-4 – MLB Spring Training
Tampa Bay Rays were beaten by Miami Marlins 2-4 at the Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida on Wednesday, March 14 in their Grapefruit League encounter of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session. The Rays have looked completely
out of sorts since the start of spring season. With a poor 3-8 win-loss record this spring, Twins’ manager Joe Maddon and his men will have to do some serious work to get things on track before the start of 2012 regular season.
Miami, on the other hand, made the most of their opportunities to establish complete control over the contest. Anibal Sanchez looked in supreme touch as he made a dominant start to his spring campaign. Showing no signs of his shoulder injury, Sanchez pitched
with great control and accuracy, not allowing any score over two innings. He struck out four batters and gave up just two hits to help the Marlins put extreme pressure on their rivals. In a post game interview, Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen stated that Sanchez
had surpassed his expectations. Guillen was also thrilled by Wade LeBlanc's performance, who tossed four innings as a reliever.
"The pitches moved a lot today, especially my changeup," Sanchez said. "If everything can work out I can have a good season."
"He did a lot better than what I thought," Guillen said. "First time out, most of the people who have a little bit of pain or were having pain in the past, they kind of worry about it. He just went out and did what he's going to do and pitched a good ballgame.
He threw strikes. That's a hard thing to do the first time out."
The Rays were unable to achieve their desired goals in American League Eastern division last season and they were hoping to give consistent results in spring training. However, having lost eight of their eleven games, they will now be looking to comeback
strongly on their next spring appearance. So far, things haven’t gone their way and it will be interesting to see if they can turn things around with consistent performances in regular season.
Tags: