Texas Rangers catch Tampa Bay Rays with 8-6 Game 2 win, courtesy James Shields wild pitch - Part 3
The Texas Rangers were lucky on Saturday, October 1 to walk away with a series tying 8-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Rangers Ballpark. The club managed a victory, courtesy of James Shield, who pitched
wildly in the fourth inning to put the home team up.
Rangers went 5-3 up in the bottom of the fourth of the second game in style as one wild pitch to David Murphy on a 1-2 pitch count put Texas ahead. Mitch Moreland came in to score the fifth run for his team in the same inning.
With the Rays falling behind 5-3, they tried to come back in the game. Their march to success was stomped over by Ian Kinsler in the bottom of the sixth. Shields allowed Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz to move to base with singles in the bottom of the sixth.
He had done most of the damage on Saturday and manager Joe Maddon took no more chances as he brought on reliever Jake McGee.
The hurler was on the back foot from the very beginning as Craig Gentry walked on to bunt and sacrifice himself for two of his colleagues to move up the bases. The pitcher recollected himself only to squander another opportunity as he hit Moreland and the
hitter went to first base to load the bases again.
Juan Cruz replaced McGee but the damage was done. Ian Kinsler walked in to smash a double to right-field. The hit was enough to earn Shields two more runs in the night as Cruz and Napoli ran home for a 7-3 score line.
The Rays however had not lost hope just yet. Koji Uehara replaced Alexi Ogando on the mound for the Rangers and he managed to put Desmond Jennings and B. J. Upton on base. The move was read well by Evan Longoria who managed to pull off a homer to put the
club 6-7 behind the Rangers. With a chance to win the game, the Rays lost it in the bottom of the eighth when Moreland came on to homer to right-field against pitcher Brandon Gomes.
The game ended without a Rays’ reply and Joe Maddon was quick to talk about the game changing moment. He reflected on James Shield and spoke of him in great detail.
"He was going along really well," said Maddon. "I thought he had some good stuff and nice tempo and rhythm about him, and all of a sudden a couple hit batters. That's really unusual. That's the part that was definitely out of character. He was composed,
he was fine, and he would just hit a couple of guys.”
With the Rangers back in the game, they will be hoping to win the rest of the games in quick succession as leaving the last match for a decider will make matters worse for the American League West Champions.
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