Today was a great pitching duel if you exclude the 5th inning for Tyson Ross. But as Glen and Ray said, "You can't pick and choose your innings."
Tyson Ross had pitched four innings giving up 4 hits with 3 strikeouts, but it all fell apart in the fifth inning. To lead off the fifth, Jeff Keppinger hit a single, which was followed by a double from Luke Scott. With runners now at second and third and no outs, Ryan Roberts hit a fly ball to center to bring in the first run of the game and advance Scott to third with 1 out. Ross then walked Jose Molina and with runners at first and third, Sam Fuld singled on a line drive to right field to bring the runner in from third and increase the Rays lead to 2 to 0. With Molina at second and Fuld at first, Ross was able to get the second out of the inning by striking out B.J Upton, but was unable to limit the damage done as MattJoyce followed with a double down the right field line to score two more runs. 4-0 Rays. But the Rays weren't done as Evan Longoria brought in the final run of the game with an RBI single 5 to 0 Rays as the A's we're unable to amount anything against Alex Cobb, who ultimately went on to get his first complete-game shutout, only giving up 4 hits on 8 strikeouts and 2 walks. Ross' final line was 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and who knows if we'll see him in an A's uniform again.
Of course, it was a debatable strike zone throughout the entire game, but in the end the A's bats weren't even able to get a runner to third base. The silver lining to the game was the fact that the A's are still in the second wild card spot even if we share it with two other teams (Detroit and Baltimore). Be sure to watch tomorrow as Jarrod Parker takes on Matt Moore for the second game of this three-game series. Same time, same place.
