The Tigers continued their road trip in St. Petersburg, with a pitching matchup of new Tiger versus former Tiger, with Jack Flaherty taking on the Rays’ bullpen, including Tyler Alexander. The Rays have struggled this season compared to previous years and the Tigers took the first two games of the series and were looking to come away with the sweep, but the Rays weren’t going to make it easy on them.
In the top of the first the Tigers got to Rays’ opener Shawn Armstrong early, as Riley Greene singled to start things off, then Wenceel Perez walked with one out. An Armstrong balk allowed both runners to advance a bag, and then a Spencer Torkelson groundout scored Greene. Unfortunately, the Rays came back in the bottom half as Randy Arozarena hit a two-out home run to tie things up.
That was it for Armstrong, who gave way to Tyler Alexander in the second. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the second. In the bottom half of the inning, the Rays really made a push to get back at the Tigers for the previous two games of the series. Amed Rosario singled to start things off, then got tagged out on a fielder’s choice that ended with Harold Ramirez safe at first. Ben Rortvedt (whose name I would never be able to spell right if asked at gunpoint), doubled to score Ramirez. With two outs Jose Caballero singled to score Rortvedt, Caballero then stole second. A Yandy Diaz single then scored Caballero.
The Tigers went down in order in the top of the third. In the bottom half, Isaac Paredes got a one-out single, but was eliminated in a double play to end the inning, leaving both teams scoreless.
Matt Vierling managed a two-out single in the top of the fourth, but the Tigers weren’t able to capitalize. In the bottom half, Harold Ramirez singled, then advanced to second on a wild pitch from Flaherty. Three outs in a row followed to end the inning.
The fifth inning saw the Tigers make an early comeback push (what, they don’t always need to wait until after the eighth?!). Javier Baez got a one-out walk, Jake Rogers followed with a single, then both runners advanced on a flyout. A Mark Canha single scored both Baez and Rogers, putting the Tigers within one run. In the bottom half, the Rays couldn’t muster a rally, going 1-2-3. That was the end of the night for Flaherty, who got a supportive hug from Jake Rogers in the dugout. Flaherty’s final line was 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, and honestly aside from one really rough inning, he seemed to have a decent feel for the ball tonight.
In the sixth, the Rays swapped Alexander out for Chris Devenski. With one out, Matt Vierling tripled, then a two-out Buddy Kennedy single tied the game at 4-4. Kennedy stole second, then a Javier Baez double scored Kennedy.
Onto the home half, Will Vest was in from the pen. He didn’t get off to a great start, as Isaac Paredes tripled to start things off, then two outs later, Ben Rortvedt singled to score Paredes. This was followed up with a Curtis Mead home run to bring in two additional runs and give the Rays back the lead.
The seventh saw the next Ray’s reliever out of the pen in Jason Adam, who set the Tigers down in order. Shelby Miller took over for the Tigers in the bottom half, and had a much more successful outing than Vest. Yandy Diaz singled to start the inning, but three outs followed to keep the lead minimized.
Top of the eighth the Tigers had two outs, and Parker Meadows got swapped for Kerry Carpenter, but the switch didn’t manage to make a difference. In the bottom half Andry Chafin came in and set the Rays down 1-2-3.
Garrett Cleavinger came out of the Rays pen. With two outs he walked Jake Rogers. Despite the bonus baserunner, the Tigers couldn’t manage to convert it to a tie opportunity, and dropped the final game of the series.
Final: Tigers 5, Rays 7