The Detroit Tigers returned to Comerica Park after a five-game roadtrip, which included Tuesday’s trade deadline, fell behind by four runs early to the Tampa Bay Rays and never fought back.
It was an embarrassing loss.
The Tigers were annihilated by the Rays, 8-0, in the first of three games in the series at Comerica Park. The Rays played clean in all facets: The defense executed easy and difficult plays, the pitching staff delivered a shutout and the offense collected eight runs on 13 hits and three walks.
The Tigers (48-61) have lost nine of their past 13 games, and the Rays have outscored the Tigers, 29-3, in four games this season.
“Those first three games of the year were tough,” said outfielder Matt Vierling. “Obviously, this one kind of coincides with that. … We’re trying to get back here tomorrow and get off on the right foot. The start of the game is big for us against these guys. We really want to get off to a good start and try not to let them get rolling.”
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Right-hander Reese Olson allowed four runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts over five innings in the 12th appearance of his MLB career. The 24-year-old, who has a 4.94 ERA, struggled in the first two innings before settling in.
“I think he made bad pitches with two strikes,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Credit to them for good at-bats. I think our execution in those counts could have been better, and I think that was a big difference in the damage.”
Two-out mistakes — a single to Brandon Lowe and walk to Randy Arozarena — doomed Olson in the first inning. Isaac Paredes, a former Tiger traded to the Rays for outfielder Austin Meadows in April 2022, pulled a middle-down slider into left field for a two-run double, giving the Rays a 2-0 lead.
In the second inning, Jose Siri fell behind 0-2 in the count but battled back to crush a mistake from Olson. A seventh-pitch slider didn’t break down and away, ending up near the middle of the strike zone, and Siri punished Olson by hitting a two-run home run to left-center field.
Siri’s 21st home run made it 4-0.
“I think their approach was sitting on my slider,” Olson said. “Makes sense based on the way I’ve used it for my time (in the big leagues) so far, but I definitely think that was their plan coming in. Once I realized that, after the second inning, I went to more curveball and changeup.”
The Rays added three runs in the sixth inning off left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve, who failed to get an out, and one run in the seventh inning of right-handed reliever Trey Wingenter.
Wingenter had three strikeouts, plus an impressive eight whiffs on 17 swings, but he allowed three hits.
Trailing 8-0, the Tigers turned to position player Zack Short for top of the ninth inning, in his fourth pitching appearance of the season. He retired all three batters he faced: Josh Lowe (flyout), Harold Ramirez (flyout) and Siri (popout).
Short owns a 2.25 ERA in four innings.
Littell has big night
Right-hander Zack Littell, who entered Friday with a 4.85 ERA in 17 games (four starts), dominated the Tigers. He fired six scoreless innings on three hits and one walk with one strikeout, throwing 49 of 74 pitches for strikes.
There were three hits against him: Vierling in the first inning, Kerry Carpenter in the second inning and Miguel Cabrera in the third inning. Riley Greene worked a six-pitch walk in the sixth inning.
“He was placing his pitches pretty well,” Vierling said. “At least to me, he’d work away all the time, and then in my third at-bat, he kind of surprised me coming in, and I swung and hit the ball on the ground.”
Cabrera’s two-out hit, a 388-foot double to right-center field, would have been a home run in 14 of 30 ballparks. The Tigers stranded him at second base, however, when Andy Ibáñez grounded out. It was the Tigers’ only at-bat with runners in scoring position.
Littell now has a 4.04 ERA in 18 games.
“A ton of strikes, and he comes right at you,” Hinch said. “Generally, he’s going to come at you in attack mode and pitch with his fastball-slider combo to righties and fastball-split combo to lefties. They’ve got him executing at the top of the zone when they need swing-and-miss, but we couldn’t get the ball off the ground.”
After Littell, the Rays called two relievers — right-handers Kevin Kelly and Shawn Armstrong — out of the bullpen for the final three innings. The duo retired nine batters in a row to end the game.
Wander-ing the field
Rays shortstop Wander Franco went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts at the plate, but his stellar defense made up for his poor offense. The Tigers put 19 balls in play against Littell, including 10 groundouts; of those, many ended up on the left side of the infield, allowing Franco to complete several highlight-reel plays.
“We hit the ball on the ground quite a bit and gave them a lot of opportunities, but they’re one of the best teams in the league,” Hinch said. “Wander at shortstop has been great, and Paredes handles third fine.”
In the second inning, Franco started a double play on an up-the-middle grounder from Javier Báez for the first two outs. In the fourth inning, he gloved a grounder from Spencer Torkelson (with a 103.8 mph exit velocity) while sliding for the third out.
Entering Friday, the 22-year-old was worth plus-16 defensive runs saved in 880 innings at shortstop this season.
The Tigers finished with 15 ground-ball outs.
“There’s a reason you preach to get the ball in the air as much as you can,” Hinch said. “Generally, at this level, when you find the ground as much as we did, it’s hard to find the hits, especially when they’re playing defense like that.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.