Tampa Bay Rays floor Boston Red Sox 1-0 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays secured a hard fought 1-0 win against Boston Red Sox at the Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, April 16 in the finale of their four match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball.
The Rays displayed some high quality pitching skills to avoid four game series sweep against the red hot Boston’s side. James Shields showed just why he is a plus point for the Rays as he allowed just four hits in 8-plus innings to help the Rays earn their
first win against the Red Sox this season.
"It was my job to stop the bleeding," Shields said. "We had a rough three games and they were hot. They were swinging the bats pretty well."
The Red Sox had plenty of opportunities to tie the score but they did not take them to make their opponent’s job easier.
"We absolutely needed something like that today. James did not disappoint," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I really liked the bounce back (at) 11 o'clock in the morning. After losing three games in a row here, a lot of teams would give up at that point."
"It was the wrong decision, obviously," Bobby Valentine said. "I wanted to let him know right there that I thought he could get himself out of a jam."
The Rays will be extremely pleased at securing their first win of the series. The Red Sox dominated them in almost all departments of the game in their previous three encounters.
Looking completely out of sorts, the Rays suffered a humiliating 12-2 defeat in game one of the series. Joe Maddon and company continued to struggle in second game as well as they experienced another forgettable 13-5 loss.
Although Tampa Bay put up a decent fight in third game of the series, they were unable to cross the winning line and the Red Sox went on to take a decisive 3-0 lead. A win over the Red Sox on Monday evening will certainly help boost Rays’ morale.
The fans will also be very disappointed to see the Rays performing poorly in Boston, especially considering the way the Rays hammered New York Yankees in their first series of the season.
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