Rays 8, Tigers 3: Summer Slump Continues

On Saturday,the Tigers and Rays played an early game in the Yankees minor league park that is currently serving as the Rays home base for the season, Steinbrenner Field. Yesterday’s game was a barn-burner that saw both teams score a bunch of runs, but the Rays emerged victorious off of a disastrous performance from Jack Flaherty.

Ryan Pepiot started for the “Devil” Rays, as the team was wearing throwback uniforms. The right-hander has had a pretty impressive season so far but the Tigers had an offensive explosion yesterday. What would they get today? Well, in the first they threatened but did not score. Colt Keith lined out, Gleyber Torres took a baseball to the elbow to get on base, and then Kerry Carpenter flied out. Carp has struggled of late and he never looked comfortable in that at-bat. Riley Greene worked a walk, but Wenceel Pérez struck out swinging.

The Tigers decided to go with an opener for this one, putting in lefty Brant Hurter. Unfortunately, the Rays put a hurting on Hurter, although much of it was self-inflicted. Yandy Díaz flied out to start things off. Brandon Lowe struck out, but Jake Rogers whiffed on it and the passed ball allowed Lowe to rush to first safely on the dropped third strike. Hurter got Junior Caminero to strike out, but a double put runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Hurter’s command began to falter as he walked the next batter. And…then the next batter too, driving in a run. Then he hit José Caballero in the foot with a pitch, forcing in another run. Oddly, AJ Hinch didn’t pull Hurter. It backfired, as a single scored two more runs. Forced to make a move, Sawyer Gipson-Long was brought in. Taylor Walls stole second on the first pitch without any Tigers effort to stop him. His command was a bit iffy but he got the 9th hitter, Danny Jansen, to fly out. None of the four runs were earned.

Top of the 2nd and the Tigers tried to chip away at the lead. With two outs, Parker Meadows walked and Jake Rogers singled. Colt Keith hit a chopper to first with a high bounce…but the first baseman made a highlight jumping snag of the ball before stepping on the bag to end the inning.

The Rays remained hot in the 2nd. A leadoff double was followed by an RBI single. Gipson-Long rebounded to get the next three outs without the remaining runner scoring, but Tigers fans were groaning.

Torres struck out to open the third, but Carpenter hammered a ball that bounced off the right field fence for a double. Another 6 inches and that would have been a home run. Greene struck out, so it was up to Pérez. He battled and fouled off a ton of pitches before striking out on an inside curveball on the 12th pitch of the at-bat. Tigers were retired, but Pepiot’s pitch count was 67 after three innings.

A great snag on a scorched ground ball to Keith was the first out of the inning. A grounder to third led to a wild throw that Colt had to come up the line to catch, tagging out the batter before they reached first base. For a guy that isn’t a first baseman by trade, Keith was looking pretty good out there today. Pérez made a nice play in the outfield to get the third out, finally keeping the Rays off the board.

Báez was hit by a pitch to open the 4th. Meadows singled to center, but an aggressive first-to-third from Báez forced the Rays to throw over. A poor throw meant he was safe, while Meadows scampered to second. Rogers grounded out to SS, driving in the Tigers first run. With the chance to get another run back, Keith struck out and the threat was over.

Jansen got the run back immediately for the Rays, hitting a long home run to left field. For good measure they hit another solo HR with two outs. At the end of the 4th it was 7-1 Rays.

Neither team reached base in the 5th, which was kind of refreshing.

The top of the 6th saw the Rays turn to their bullpen. Righty behemoth (6’10”) Paul Gervase came in for his major league debut. He retired the Tigers on 6 pitches.

Gipson-Long allowed a single in the 6th, but nothing more.

The Tigers made Gervase work in the top of the 7th. With two outs, Keith and Torres worked consecutive walks. Unfortunately, Carpenter hit a ball a mile high, popping out to end things.

With two out in the 7th, Christopher Morel got a 1-2 fastball up and in that was actually reasonably well located, and still turned on it for a long solo HR down the left field line. Gipson-Long got the next out to end the inning, but the lead was extended to 8-1 for the Rays.

Mason Montgomery relieved Gervase and immediately got into trouble. With one out, Pérez singled and then Báez hit a ball so hard that it kind of ate up the second baseman, allowing both runners to reach safely. Jahmai Jones pinch-hit and battled Montgomery, fouling off a ton of high 90’s fastballs before smacking a double that was also inches from being a home run; it drove in a run. Kevin Kelly relieved Montgomery and Hinch countered by pinch-hitting Dillon Dingler; Dillon flew out but deep enough to drive in another run. Trey Sweeney then pinch-hit for Rogers and struck out looking. Still, Tigers had rallied a little bit, now down 8-3 with three more outs remaining.

Dylan Smith relieved Gipson-Long for the bottom of the 8th. Sawyer had a decent game overall, pitching 6.1 innings but giving up 4 runs, three of which were solo home runs. Smith was sharp, getting all three outs with little struggle.

Tigers came up to bat in the top of the 9th down five runs. Keith led it off with a single but Torres grounded to SS, where the Rays easily turned a double-play. Carpenter was the team’s last hope…but he struck out. Game over, the Rays hot streak continues.

Final Score: Rays 8, Tigers 3. The Tigers have lost 3 straight but haven’t lost 4 in a row all season.