The Tropicana Field Catwalks escort The Minnesota Twins to Victory
From what seemed like a stellar match was turned over its head due to an intervening dome stadium catwalk. The moment came after Minnesota Twins’, Jason Kubel, plumped his usual pop up shot 190 feet into the air, only to connect with the towering catwalk. The Tampa Bay Ray fielders, in a moment of confusion, scampered around the area looking for the ball’s descent. Unfortunately, the ball went the other way after hitting the tall aluminium frame, finally going down, behind the pitcher’s mound.
The match till the top 9th was played in spectacular fashion, making this one of the most amazing matches of the day. For what came to be a memorable night was marred by a stadium design fault’s role in it. However, the night saw a special event in the form of Jason Bartlett’s grand slam hit in the bottom 8th, giving the home team the necessary fight back incentive they needed.
To start off the event, the Twins went into the game with a victory in the previous recent match over the Rays in the Tropicana Field stadium. The team was doing well now, given their lacklustre performance in the two earlier games against the Tampa Bay team. For what was looking like a reputation salvaging opportunity, the team from Minnesota was hoping to subdue their opponents, to render the trip a draw with a 2-2 match set. For that purpose, the team brought in Kevin Slowey and fielded a strong squad for the event.
The Tampa Rays, on the other hand, were looking to win the series and usurp the Twins in the bout by 3-1. Having lost their last match, the team was hoping for a final victory with Wade Davis making his way back in the team to pitch. However, that wasn’t to be the case soon as the match began.
The top 1st saw the Minnesota Twins bat first and they made a mockery of Wade’s pitches as Joe Mauer’s double to the deep right center produced a score from Alexi Casilla, who ran from the second base to convert for the visitors. Delmon Young followed in similar fashion when he doubled to the deep left, allowing second base holder, Mauer to register two for the squad on the board. Subsequently, Young scored when Kubel singled to the left centre on the next pitch. The tirade of scoring concluded in the innings with Kubel’s scoring, off James Hardy’s single to the centre, bringing the total to 4-0.
The action picked up again when the Jason Repko, the Twins’ versatile hitter, banged a 393 feet homer towards the left to bring up the 5th run of the team in the top 5th, putting the home team under immense pressure to perform and counter the onslaught, being delivered to them. However, that didn’t come again before Hardy scored his second for the Twins, sprinting from the second base when fellow batter Drew Butera banged the ball to the deep left centre for a double.
The Tampa Rays made a formidable return to the game in the bottom 8th, as BJ Upton smashed a mighty 428 feet homer down the centre, off Slowey. This gave the team something to cheer about as the squad started performing better with the batters filling the bases. When Jessie Crain replaced the ace pitcher, things got worse as the reliever walked Willy Aybar and got Kelly Shoppach to score for the home team. What followed was a boomer for the fans as Bartlett hit a grand slam, 357 feet homer down the left side, scoring with fellow Aylar, Evan Longoria and Sean Rodriguez. This brought the score to a tie with 6 – 6.
However, that all changed with Kubel’s pop up in the last inning as that allowed Repko to score for the Twins and gain the lead again. Unfortunately for the home team, another run was to come by as Young completed his run off Michael Cuddyer’s single to the left to bring up 8 runs. Unable to respond in the bottom last, the Rays lost a match which they could only blame on fate and hard luck, leaving the score on 8 Twins – 6 Rays.
Thus, setting the tempo straight, the Twins will take the game happily into their account as a win. However, the Rays will be hoping for a change in luck to keep their title dream alive. They only may be feeling the heat as the Yankees have evened them out with the same match wins as the fight for the division title catches pace.
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