Tampa Bay Rays secure narrow 2-1 win against Boston Red Sox – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays secured a narrow 2-1 win against Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday, May 16 in the opening game of their two match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Carlos Pena provided the Rays with a great start as he scored in the second inning to give his team a 1-0 lead. In a game where runs were extremely hard to come by, Daniel Nava singled to centre in the fourth and Jarrod Saltalamacchia scored to level score at 1-1.
Rays’ striker Luke Scott played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash as he hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to right in the sixth inning and Matt Joyce scored to put the Rays 2-1 ahead.
Both teams failed to score any more runs in the next three innings and the Rays held on to their slight advantage to take 1-0 lead in the series. Starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson once again showed just why he is important to the Rays as he pitched six solid innings.
The starter showed great control and accuracy over his pitches and he allowed just one run and five hits over six innings pitched. Striking out six, he earned his career best sixth straight decision and snapped Boston Red Sox’s five-game winning streak.
Tampa Bay will be very concerned about second baseman Will Rhymes' health who had to leave the field in the eighth inning due to an elbow injury. After being hit by a pitch, he gestured that he wanted to come out of the game due to the pain he felt in his elbow. According to sources, Rhymes even struggled to take steps forward and he eventually collapsed in the arms of George Hendrick, Rays’ first base coach.
Rays win against the Red Sox was their 24th of the season and they have lost just fourteen games. Their win-loss record at Tropicana Field suggests that they will be very hard to beat in front of their home crowd. The Red Sox, on the other hand, will be disappointing with the result of the game.
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