The Tampa Bay Rays stayed within a game of the division-leading New York Yankees by beating the Oakland A’s 3-2 Sunday afternoon. They managed to salvage a series split with consecutive wins after dropping the first two of the four-game set. This outing saw Matt Garza starting on the hill matched up against Dallas Braden of perfect game notoriety (read: hate you).
Like one would expect when a perfect game pitcher and a no-hitter guy square off, the first inning went three-up, three-down on both sides of the ball. The Rays got the first base runner of the game in the second inning when Braden hit Carlos Pena with a pitch. He was stranded at first. The A’s got a base runner when Rajai Davis hit a two-out single in the bottom of the frame. He too was stranded at first base. So both pitchers lost the perfect game opportunity in that inning but Braden still could achieve a no-hitter.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.