Detroit Tigers Lose Again, This Time 10-2 to Tampa Bay Rays

Jul 28, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher David Price (14) walks back to the dugout at the end of the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers lost again, this time 10-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays as David Price was knocked around and the Tigers’ offense was anemic once again. Curst Casali continued to be the bane of the Tigers’ existence with two more home runs, his fourth in seven at bats after he hit three in his first 117 at bats in the big leagues. Asdrubal Cabrera also changed the game with his first two at bats with two doubles after eight and ten pitch battles.

The Tigers looked like they were going to get on the board first, but Tropicana Field and ineptitude kept them off the board. J.D. Martinez led off the inning with a long fly ball to center field which looked to redirect off of a catwalk and landed in play. Martinez reached third for a triple with no one out and replay could not overturn the call. Nick Castellanos popped out to first, James McCann lined out to left and Alex Avila flew out to left to end the inning without a run.

The Rays then struck in the bottom half of the second. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled to left field with one out, followed by a Curt Casali single to move Cabrera to third. Tim Beckham then hit a ground ball double to score Cabrera and give the Rays the 1-0 lead.

The Tigers tied the game in the third with a Yoenis Cespedes solo home run to right-center field. They had a chance to take the lead with a J.D. Martinez single and a Nick Castellanos single which both baserunners took an extra base after a throw to third to put two on with one out, but McCann and Avila struck out to leave the game tied at 1-1.

Price could not get a shutdown inning in the bottom of the third and the Rays retook the lead. Steven Souza Jr. doubled to lead off the inning followed by another Cabrera double after a 10 pitch at-bat to give the Rays the 2-1 lead. Casali then hit his third home run in two games to left-center field to extend the lead to 4-1 Rays.

The Rays then extended their lead in the bottom of the 6^th when Casali struck once again with a home run to right field to give the Rays the 5-1 lead. Price’s night was done after that inning. He ended the game with a line of 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K on 108 pitches.

The Rays put the finishing touches on their victory off of the Tigers’ 8^th inning man, Neftali Feliz. The slumping Evan Longoria deposited a home run over the center field wall to extend the lead to 6-1. Feliz then loaded the bases with a Logan Forsythe walk, a Souza single, and a Cabrera single. He then retired Casali, because why not, before Beckham cleared the bases with an RBI triple before exiting the game. Blaine Hardy then entered the game and Kevin Kiermaier hit a sacrifice fly off of him to bring home Beckham to give the Rays the 10-1 lead.

The Tigers added a run for the stat book in the top of the 9th. Alex Avila hit a double to left field followed by a Jose Iglesias single to change the final score to 10-2.

These two teams will play their series finale tomorrow afternoon at 12:10 as Justin Verlander takes the mound against Chris Archer as the Rays look to sweep the Tigers and put the final nail in the Tigers’ coffin as they sit 5 games back in the Wild Card and 13 games back in the AL Central.