Happy early game day, friends! With heavy rain in the forecast, the baseball gods decided to postpone today’s game against the Rays until the afternoon, and then they taunted the weather gods by dropping so much rain that the start of the game had to be delayed an hour. However, nothing could stop the Tigers from their pursuit of the postseason, and the show must go on.
Tonight’s outing pitted Tarik Skubal against Ryan Pepiot, and the Tigers had a lineup loaded with left-handers to counter Pepiot’s fastball.
The game certainly wasn’t one of early scoring for either side. In the first inning, the Rays settled for a walk by Jonny DeLuca and nothing else. And the Tigers did almost the same thing with a walk by Wenceel Perez with two outs.
In the first inning, Jose Caballero, who could be a dangerous base stealer, singled with one out. He was then caught stealing a base and Ben Rortvedt struck out, ending the inning. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the second half.
The third inning ended 1-2-3 for both sides.
The Rays continued the trend with a three-on, three-off fourth inning. Wenceel Perez was again the only baserunner in the bottom of the inning with another walk. No runs scored.
In the fifth inning, Rortvedt managed a two-out single but was left stranded. Trey Sweeney managed a one-out walk in the bottom half of the inning, then Jake Rogers hit a single. Parker Meadows then managed a walk, which was honestly a razor-thin margin of a check swing that went in the Tigers’ favor. The bases were loaded for Wenceel Perez. Perez fought an epic at-bat to hit a ground-rule double and score two runs.
The Rays went down in order in the sixth. Pepiot’s day was over after five and he made way for Colin Poche, who retired the Tigers in order.
The seventh inning was another 1-2-3 for the Rays and the end of the day for Skubal with a season-high 103 pitches. His final total for the day was 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Let’s hope we don’t see him again until Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Mason Montgomery was next out of the Rays bullpen and took the Tigers out 1-2-3.
Beau Brieske came off the Tigers bench to replace Skubal and put the Rays in order. In the bottom of the inning, the Tigers went down in order.
In the ninth inning, with two outs, Brandon Lowe hit a solo home run, dampening the spirits of the home crowd. But Brieske made the last out and secured the victory for the Tigers.
Final score: Tigers 2, Rays 1
