Tampa Bay Rays Shut Out Cleveland In AL Wild Card Game
By Jason Evans
If there’s one thing the Tampa Bay Rays know how to grow and develop it’s starting pitching. It’s their pitching that has taken them to the playoffs four times since 2008 and continues to keep them going. It was David Price on Monday night and tonight it was Alex Cobb and the bullpen, as the Rays shut out the Cleveland Indians 4-0 and will face the Red Sox Friday afternoon in the American League Division Series.
Cobb and Danny Salazar came out firing throwing strikes and throwing hard. The Rays made the adjustment though. Delmon Young‘s third inning blast off Salazar gave them the 1-0 lead.
The Rays would tack on in the fourth. With one out, James Loney and Evan Longoria singled. A flyout moved Loney to third. That brought Desmond Jennings to plate and he cashed in with a two run double.
The Rays would tack on some insurance in the ninth. Cody Allen came in and gave up a leadoff single to Ben Zobrist. After a strikeout, Joe Smith came in. Young came up and hit a rocket that Lonnie Chisenhall couldn’t handle. Yunel Escobar followed with a single that rocketed past Nick Swisher at first to bring home a run.
It wasn’t all good for Tampa, as the Indians had plenty of opportunities throughout the game but couldn’t cash in. In the bottom half of the fourth, Cleveland loaded the bases with one out, but Asdrubal Cabrera would ground into a double play. In the fifth, the Indians had two on with nobody out, but Michael Bourn, Swisher and Jason Kipnis were retired on a strikeout and two groundouts. Bourn and Swisher couldn’t cash in again in the seventh with two runners on.