Let’s blame it on the late getaway, shall we?
After a long night and a doubleheader against the Pirates, the Tigers made their way to Florida to take on the displaced Tampa Bay Rays . Jack Flaherty was on the mound for the Tigers, while Shane Baz was up for the Rays. The rain followed the Tigers to Florida and the game started about an hour late, but things finally did get underway in Tampa.
In the top of the first Gleyber Torres took a one-out walk. Then, with two outs, Riley Greene singled. Torres was able to leg out a run to third base, while Greene was able to get to second thanks to a fielding error by Kameron Misner and one of the slickest slides I’ve seen in a while. Despite the fancy footwork, though, the Tigers weren’t able to score a run.
They’d be regretting those missed runs as the home half opened with a solo home run by Yandy Diaz to put the Rays on the board first. Things got rougher for Flaherty from there. Jake Mangum singled, Jonathan Aranda walked, and then a Curtis Mead single brought Mangum home. With two outs, Matt Thaiss doubled to bring two more runs in. The score was 4-0 Rays at the end of the first.
As a small positive, though, there was a very pretty double rainbow over the outfield wall, so that was something.
A bit of a rainbow over #Rays and #Tigers … pic.twitter.com/gXzWvfQe5K
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) June 21, 2025
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the second. With one out in the bottom of the inning there was a brief pause in the game after Yandy Diaz was hit by a pitch. He ultimately stayed in the game. Two outs followed to end the inning. The final out of the inning was a highlight reel play for Trey Sweeney.
Trey Sweeney kicked off the third with a single, then one out later, Torres singled as well. With two outs in the inning, Riley Greene came to bat and hit a long homer (one of the longest in Steinbrenner Field history) to bring three runs home.
The Rays evidently took that home run personally, because in the home half they absolutely hammered Flaherty. With one out, Mead singled, and then advanced to second on wild pitch. Josh Lowe and Matt Thaiss took back-to-back walks to load the bases. A Taylor Walls double then scored three runs. The Thaiss run was ruled an error by Colt Keith, but on reply it doesn’t seem to have been an error at all (this ruling was later changed to an error for Meadows, even if it was really the ball skipping off the edge of third base to blame if we’re pointing fingers). That was it for Flaherty, and I’m not even going to give you his final line with a start like that. His command was abysmal and the Rays were swinging free and easy all night long. Matt Gage came on to replace him. Misner reached on a fielder’s choice to score Walls. Riley Greene got the second out of the inning in a wild catch.
Brandon Lowe singled, but the Rays wouldn’t score any additional runs. The score after three was 8-3.
The Tigers went down in order at the top of the fourth. In the home half, Mead took a one-out walk, but a force out and a pop out ended the inning.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Torres walked, but the Tigers would ultimately leave him stranded. Chase Lee replaced Gage in the bottom of the inning. With two outs in the home half, Yandy Diaz got his second home run of the game. It was the only run of the inning for the Rays, but it widened the gap the Tigers would need to traverse to come back in the latter half of the game. The highlight of the home half for the Tigers was this silly little play at first.
Riley Greene started the sixth with a walk. Then with one out, Dillon Dingler walked. At that point Shane Baz was done for the night and was replaced by Forrest Whitley. Parker Meadows then doubled to score Greene. Scrappy Tigs weren’t done yet, though, as Javier Baez followed that up with a sac fly to score Dingler. At the mid-sixth, the score was 5-9.
Carlos Hernández came in for the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs in the inning, things went downhill. Mead walked. Josh Lowe then doubled to score Mead. Thaiss then singled to score Lowe. Taylor Walls then singled, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch, but no additional runs scored. Still, the score was 11-5 at the end of the sixth.
The Tigers were three-up, three-down in the top of the seventh. Brenan Hanifee came on for the Tigers in the home half and gave up a single to Diaz. But a double play off the bat of Brandon Lowe eliminated the baserunner.
Eric Orze came out of the Rays’ pen in the eighth and gave up a home run to Riley Greene. Three outs followed.
One step forward two steps back. In the home half Aranda opened things with a single, then Mead walked. A Josh Lowe force out eliminated Mead, but then Thaiss singled, but thanks to a Kerry Carpenter fielding error, Thaiss ended on third and two runs scored. A Misner single then scored Thaiss, and at the end of the inning the score was 14-6.
There’s no quit in these Tigers even when things seem impossible. Baez singled to start the inning, then with one out, Colt Keith hit a home run to drive in two runs.
Jahmai Jones replaced Torres, but struck out for the second inning of the game. A pop up ended the inning and the game.