Tampa Bay Rays fall to Baltimore Orioles 2-9 in series opener – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Baltimore Orioles 2-9 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on Tuesday, September 11 in the opening game of their three match series.
Orioles used their home conditions absolutely superbly to create all sorts of problems for their opponents. The offence in particular should be given credit for making the most of scoring opportunities.
J.J. Hardy had a memorable time on the plate as he hit two towering home-runs for the Orioles. Chris Davis homered to left in the seventh inning as Baltimore claimed an impassable 7-1 lead. Matt Wieters and Adam Jones also made valuable contributions with
the bat.
"I got a couple pitches to hit and didn't miss them," Hardy said.
For the Rays, Ryan Roberts homered to left to level the score 1-1 in the third inning. Elliot Johnson also made his presence felt with a home-run to right in the eighth inning but the Orioles were too hot to handle at their home ballpark.
"Anybody can get beat by a lot of runs any night," Roberts said in a post game interview. "It didn't go our way tonight, and that's how it happens sometime in baseball."
Rays’ starting pitcher Matt Moore took his tenth loss of the season after he gave up four hits and three runs in four innings. Relief pitcher Burke Badenhop was also unable to stop the flow of runs as he allowed three hits and two runs.
"Against the Yankees, I felt great," Orioles’ starter Jason Hammel said. "I felt like I was back on track, and I know I can help this team when I am healthy. So it's very frustrating."
Cesar Ramos, J.P. Howell and Dane De La Rosa were all hit hard as Orioles stacked up a huge total on the board. Losing in a key American League East Division clash, Tampa Bay has now moved two games behind the first placed Orioles on league standings table.
It will be interesting to see if Manager Joe Maddon can make the right moves in Game 2 to stay in the playoff race.
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