Tampa Bay Rays hammer Detroit Tigers 11-5 – MLB Spring Training
Tampa Bay Rays continued their marvellous winning streak as they eased past the Detroit Tigers 11-5 at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida on Tuesday, March 19 in an important Grape Fruit League encounter of the 2013 Spring Training.
Credit should be given to the Rays’ pitching rotation that dominated the Tigers’ batting line-up throughout the contest. The starting pitcher and relievers executed their game plan to perfection to leave the Tigers in disarray. Starter Jeremy Hellickson
showed just why he is considered as one of the most dominant forces in the American League as he allowed just one run in five solid innings against a high quality batting line-up.
"I feel so good this spring," Rays’ Luke Scott said. "I am seeing pitches better and I am taking the time to see some good pitches. I am doing everything better with my mechanics and I feel like it's all coming together."
Striking-out batters at regular intervals, Hellickson created all sorts of problems for the batters and it will be interesting to see if he can continue the good work in the regular season to help the Rays win the American League East Division title against
the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
“My control isn't there yet," Fister said. "I need to regain some consistency. I am troubleshooting it. I know I can work it all out. I am not happy with the way things have been going, but I just have to learn from every outing like this one."
Tigers’ starting pitcher Doug Fister, on the other hand, continued his miserable run as he took his third straight loss of the season. Overall, the right hander gave up seven hits and seven runs in just over three innings that put the Tigers under immense
pressure. Relief pitchers Darwin Downs and Phil Coke showed a great fight but their effort was never going to be enough to save the Tigers from an embarrassing defeat in front of their home crowd. Centre-fielder Desmond Jennings made a useful contribution
with the bat but his effort also went in vain.
Tampa Bay dominated the Detroit Tigers as they put in a tremendous effort for a decisive victory. It will be interesting to see how well they do during the regular season.
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