Tampa Bay Rays defeat Los Angeles Angels 4-3 - MLB Update
Reid Brignac hammered a leading homer and RBI single while James Shields threw a strong seven innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 for the third-consecutive time at Angel Stadium, Anaheim on Wednesday, June 8.
After both starters did not yield any run in first two innings, short-stop Brignac entered the plate for his first at-bat and blistered a dazzling 361-feet long one-run homer off the Angels’ veteran starter Jered Weaver to kick the game off with 1-0 lead.
After permitting this hit, Weaver did not consume any run until the top of the seventh inning when the Rays’ left-fielder Justin Ruggiano doubled to deep right-field for an RBI single. In the eighth inning, Weaver yielded a third run to Ben Zobrist, who
tripled to deep right-field to take the lead to 3-0.
Shields, on the other hand, held the Angels’ bat scoreless in his first seven innings, as he struck-out eight batters and allowed just three walks before entering his eighth inning in which he gave away a RBI triple to the Angels’ Bobby Abreu.
Despite allowing a three-run RBI, Shields was not in mood to be replaced with other pitchers.
He said, "I don't think I was getting tired. They were not swinging at the off-speed stuff like I wanted them to, and they had some good at-bats that last inning. But for the most part, I felt like I pitched pretty well and kept us in the game. So I'll take
that every five days."
After the game was tied at 3-all in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Angels’ closer Jordan Walden and the Rays’ closer Juan Cruz each threw a scoreless ninth to force the game into an extra inning. At the top of the tenth inning, Brignac hit a sacrifice
fly to help John Jaso score a game-winning single off the Angels’ closer Fernando Rodney while in the bottom half of the inning.
Abreu, who has scored a game-tying RBI triple in the eighth, blistered a sky-high hit to centre-field, against Rays’ closer Kyle Farnsworth, in an attempt to grab a two-run walk off homer, but the Rays’ centre-fielder Melvin Emmanuel Upton grabbed it against
the boundary.
"I didn't think it would carry that far," Upton said. "We were in a `no-doubles' situation out there. I kind of felt the warning track but I didn't know exactly where the wall was. So I just had to jump a little bit for it and came down against the wall."
Having Erick Aybar at second base, Farnsworth then struck-out Howard Kendrick to confirm the Rays’ 33rd win of the season.
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