Tampa Bay Rays rally past New York Yankees 4-3 at Tropicana Field – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays rallied past New York Yankees 4-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Monday, July 2 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Considering the hot and humid conditions, it was a difficult game for both teams. After conceding an early 0-2 lead, the Rays regrouped themselves to stage an emphatic come-back. B.J. Upton homered to left in the fourth inning to reduce Yankees’ lead to
1-2. Carlos Pena also played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash, hitting a mighty home-run in the sixth to level the score 2-2.
Brooks Conrad doubled to deep-right in the seventh to help the Rays stay in the game and Elliot Johnson reached third base safely on a throwing error by Mark Teixeira to break the tie.
First baseman Teixeira looked extremely disappointed after making a costly error on the field. According to sources, he reviewed the groundball on video several times. Rays’ starting pitcher Matt Moore had a decent outing as he gave up just three runs and
nine hits in just over seven innings for his fifth win of the season.
Tampa Bay has now defeated the Yankees eight successive times at Tropicana Field and it will be interesting to see if they can continue their impressive winning streak to replace the Yankees at the top of American League East Division standings table.
"Usually you can knock it down. I tried to look at video, but I couldn't really even tell what happened," Teixeira said in a post game interview. "I just missed it. I don't know if it hit the back of the base or the chalk or what. I still have to knock it
down. That's the disappointing thing."
Joe Maddon and company made the most of available opportunities in a game that was played on an extremely competitive note. The Rays had a tough time in their previous series against the Detroit Tigers and credit must be given to them for showing excellent
pressure handling abilities on Monday afternoon.
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