Tampa Bay Rays suffer series sweep against Cleveland Indians – MLB Update
Chicago White Sox completed their series sweep against Tampa Bay Rays in an emphatic fashion, securing a narrow 4-3 win at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday, May 30 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League
Baseball regular season.
Alexi Ramirez had an excellent time on the plate as he drove in two crucial runs to put the White Sox in a commanding position. Ramirez’s RBI double to right in the fifth gave the White Sox a handsome 4-1 lead.
Rays were impressive in closing stage of the game as they fought back to reduce the deficit to 3-4 but they were unable to stop their rivals from earning a worthy victory.
Rays had an excellent chance to level score when Carlos Pena hit a two run home run to right in the sixth but Chicago’s relievers pitched with great control and accuracy to deny their rivals en entry back into the contest.
"I've never seen anything like that," Ventura said. "I don't know how to explain it. I was shocked. Usually if the guy feels it (had) intent, he gives warning and it goes from there, but it just shocked me."
"I was going to throw a fastball, but A.J. (Pierzynski) asked him for a changeup and instead of crossing him over, I went through and it just slipped away," Quintana said.
"When a pitcher throws behind somebody like that, it's pretty obvious what their intent was regardless of the denials on the other side," Maddon said.
The win will be of great importance for the White Sox who have now extended their winning streak to eight games despite losing their starting pitcher Jose Quintana in the fourth inning. Alex Rios had an RBI single in the first inning to put Chicago 1-0 ahead.
Luke Scott homered to left to bring the Rays right back into the contest. Joe Maddon and his men were punished hard for their unforced errors on the field. In a post game interview, Maddon admitted that they guys were not playing top quality baseball for
the last few days.
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