Detroit Tigers: Pitchers duel goes to Rays in thirteen innings

The Detroit Tigers couldn’t get their bats going tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays in a game that would ultimately result in a 1-0 loss in 13 innings.

The Detroit Tigers played their second game of a three-game series in Tampa Bay tonight and wound up losing 0-1 in thirteen innings. Both teams had great pitching performances and very little offense, Detroit only got three hits and Tampa Bay only got six. Ultimately, Mike Brosseau would hit a walk-off single off of Matt Hall to end it.

Tonight was a good night for Tigers pitching, for the most part, starting with Jordan Zimmermann who made his first start after a small stint on the injured list. Zimmermann went for 5.0 innings and only allowed one hit while recording five strikeouts. He had struggled up to this point in the year, with only one win and an ERA of 7.13. This will surely help his mentality moving forward.

The Tigers bullpen did a great job as well. Jose Cisnero, Gregory Soto, Buck Farmer, Nick Ramirez, and David McKay all pitched in relief and didn’t give up any runs on only four hits and four walks. Matt Hall came into the game in the thirteenth and was unable to finish it, however, giving up a walk and two hits, one of which lost the Tigers the game.

The real issue tonight for Detroit was the offense. The Tigers only put together three hits across thirteen innings and didn’t walk once. When Detroit did have runners in scoring position, they went 0-for-4. Even scoring one run in the first nine innings would have won them the game with how great the pitching was.

The series wraps up tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. EST and will feature Matthew Boyd against an unnamed starter for the Rays. Boyd has struggled over his last couple starts, bringing his ERA up to 4.38 and his record to 6-9. The Rays have struggled to score over the first two games, so Boyd will look to take advantage and turn it around tomorrow.