Tampa Bay Rays beaten by Seattle Mariners 0-1 in finale – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays were beaten by the Seattle Mariners 0-1 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, August 15 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
After securing a comprehensive 4-1 win in series opener, the Rays lost their way to take beating in Game 2 and Game 3. With just one win three games against Seattle, Joe Maddon and company have now slipped to third place on the American League East Division
standings table, just a game behind second placed Baltimore Orioles.
Manager Maddon will be expecting his team to show some team work skills and bounce back strongly in their upcoming games. Rays still have a slim chance of reaching the playoffs and it will be interesting to see if they can find winning ways at this critical
stage of the season.
Starting pitcher Felix Hernandez showed just what he is capable. Striking-out 12 batters, he created all sorts of problems for the Rays’ batting line-up. In a display of complete dominance, Hernandez pitched his first perfect game and the 23rd in
baseball history.
"I don't have any words to explain this," Hernandez said in a post game interview. "I've been working so hard to throw one and today is for you guys."
"I went 2-0 and I just took a little walk, took a break and he called a slider. I had been following him the whole game, so I threw a slider and he swing," Hernandez said. "It was a good thing I followed this guy."
Hernandez, who won the 2010 AL Cy Young Award, has spoken of his desire for perfection on many occasions and he finally achieved that against the Mariners.
"Hard to believe. It's hard to believe. Hard to believe, too," baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said. "Struck out five of the last six hitters. That's pretty good."
Jesus Montero earned an RBI single to left in the third inning to score the only run of the game. Rays’ starter Jeremy Hellickson gave up just a run in seven innings but couldn’t match Hernandez’s class on the mound.
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