Tampa Bay Rays lose to Texas Rangers 0-1 – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays were beaten by the Texas Rangers 0-1 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday, August 28 in second game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Rays’ starting pitcher James Shields displayed some top quality throwing skills, giving up just three hits and one run in seven solid innings. Striking-out eight batters, he created all sorts of problems for the Rangers’ powerful batting line-up. However,
despite his heroic effort, he was unable to deliver the win.
Rangers’ starter Yu Darvish also had an excellent time on the mound as he gave up just six hits in seven scoreless innings while striking-out 10 batters. Relief pitcher Mike Adams and Joe Nathan combined to pitch two scoreless innings to help Texas shut-out
their opponents.
Ian Kinsler scored the only run of the game as he homered to left in the fourth inning to put Rangers on the board.
"He was trying to impress a ton of people," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "And I think right now, the only thing he's concerned about is impressing Yu Darvish. And once he does that, he impresses everyone else."
"As my manager said, that's exactly what I'm doing right now, is just focusing on pitching, competing against the hitters," Darvish said through his interpreter. "I'm not worried about the outside stuff, or even giving up walks. I'm just pitching right now."
"He threw a lot of strikes, threw every pitch in the book I've ever seen," Rays’ second baseman Ryan Roberts said.
Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon will be extremely disappointed with the outcome of the game. Tampa Bay needed to win this game desperately to keep their second place at the top of American League East Division standings table. But the Rangers used their home conditions
to great effect to secure an impassable 2-0 lead series lead.
Credit should be given to the Rangers for handling their nerves brilliantly in the first two games of the series and it will be interesting to see if they can continue their domination in the finale to complete a deserving series sweep.
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