Tampa Bay Rays hand Tigers first loss with 4-2 win – MLB News
Tampa Bay Rays showed great fighting abilities and mental strength at the Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday, March 11 to floor Detroit Tigers 4-2 in their regular season encounter of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session.
The Tigers will be extremely frustrated at losing first game of this regular season. The way the Tigers hammered Boston Red Sox in a three match series 3-0, many of us thought that they will cruise to an easy win over the Rays in the opening game. However,
that did not turn out to be the case as the Rays fought back brilliantly to register their fourth win of the season.
The Rays had an ordinary time during Spring Training Session but they gave the Tigers a taste of what they can expect to face throughout this season, beating Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander on Wednesday evening.
The winner of 2011 Most Valuable Player Award and 2011 Cy Young Award made looked in complete control early on in the game. However, as the match progressed on, he started to show signs of tiredness. Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon will be very pleased with the
way his hitters took advantage of Verlander’s unforced errors, scoring four runs in the ninth to seal a thriller.
"I got away from what I'd been doing all day," Verlander said. "I'd been playing to those guys' aggressiveness, getting them out in front on off-speed stuff and then just got away from it there in the ninth for no reason."
"Once a couple guys got on, really the first time I've cranked it up like that -- and lost a little bit of my consistency that I'd had all day," Verlander said. “This loss rests solely on my shoulders today."
"They are never going to give up," Maddon said. "Say what you want about this team, but they play nine hard innings."
Allowing four runs on four hits and walking two in just over eight innings, Verlander looked completely out of sorts. This was Verlander’s first regular season loss since July 2011. He will be looking to turn things around with a strong performance on his
next appearance.
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