Tampa Bay Rays hammer New York Yankees 4-0 – MLB Spring Training Recap
Tampa Bay Rays hammered New York Yankees 4-0 at the George M. Steinbrenner Field, Florida on March 7 in the Grapefruit league clash of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session. The Rays dominated their rivals in almost all aspects of the game
to establish complete control over the contest. Handling fastball, curve balls and sliders very effectively, the Rays’ hitters posted a decent total on the board.
The Yankees lacked firepower in their batting line up as they failed to score a single run. For the Rays, James Shields was absolutely outstanding in his first Spring Training start as he tossed two scoreless innings to help his side beat the Yankees 4-0.
Striking out Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano, he displayed some high quality throwing skills. With 16-12 win-loss record, the right handed starter had an All Star season in 2011. It will be interesting to see if he can post similar stats in
2012.
"I felt really good," Shields said. "Felt kind of weird the first couple pitches, but that's just the normal first game of spring training. I was commanding my pitches for the most part."
"The most important thing that I wanted to accomplish was the feeling for the real game, and I think I was able to do that, so I'm happy," Kuroda said through a translator. "I think there was something that I gained from this outing. I made sure that I had
all my pitches, and I was able to throw a lot of good pitches."
Hiroki Kuroda, who was acquired on a $10 million deal by the Yankees, looked completely out of sorts as he allowed three earned runs and three hits over two innings pitched. Yankees’ ace C.C. Sabathia and Kuroda are the only two pitchers who will be the
part of Yankees rotation this season. Kuroda will be very disappointed with his performance on Wednesday. However, we can expect him to bounce back strongly in his next Spring Training appearance. Yankees’ hitters had only four hits off six pitchers and it
will be exciting to see if they can up their game play in the upcoming games.
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