The Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Oakland Athletics 4-2 this afternoon at Tropicana Field in a game that would have given them the lead in the American League Wild Card standings.
The winning pitcher was Oakland’s Brandon McCarthy, who pitched 7 innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs. Jeremy Hellickson earned the loss for the Rays after giving up four earned runs over 5 innings. Grant Balfour earned the save for Oakland.
The Rays struggled at the batter’s box on the afternoon with Tampa’s two runs coming off of a solo Desmond Jennings home run in the fifth and a Jose Lobaton sacrifice fly in the second, which scored Luke Scott.
Oakland, on the other hand, jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a hot first inning. Seth Smith scored on a solo home run in the third to extend the Oakland lead.
On Monday, the Rays play the AL West-leading Texas Rangers in Arlington at 8:05 ET.