Rays 7, Tigers 3: Middle-innings meltdown

A brief lead evaporated with aplomb in less than a dozen pitches.

The Tigers tried for the three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays at home on late Wednesday afternoon, the game being pushed back a few hours due to a forecast of inclement weather in southeast Michigan during the early afternoon. However, soon after taking a lead, the Rays surged ahead fast enough to make your head spin and ended up taking the series finale 7-3.

Reese Olson made his second start after returning from the Injured List with ring-finger problems. His previous start, on July 4 against the Guardians, saw him go 4 ⅓ innings; he gave up a run and some other assorted long fly balls early before settling down and pitching into the fifth.

Facing the Tigers late on a Wednesday afternoon was Zack Littell, who pitched five one-run innings against the Tigers on June 22 . He’s been good recently, only giving up one run in each of his previous three starts. However, coming into today’s game he was leading the American League in home runs surrendered; that has to be partially due to pitching half his games in a minor-league park in Tampa.

The Rays got on the board with a pair of runs in the first: after a one-out single and a double, a Josh Lowe groundout scored pesky Jonathan Aranda. Jake Mangum followed with a single to right, scoring Junior Caminero for a 2-0 score, and yes, two things about those names: one, it’s hard not tread Mangum’s name as “Magnum” and wonder if he wears Hawaiian shirts and solves crims, and two, every time I’ve heard Caminero’s name in this series, I’ve thought about that Simpsons bit involving a gigantic SUV called Canyonero .

A leadoff double by Gleyber Torres and a Wenceel Pérez infield single put runners on the corners for the Tigers in the fourth with none out. But Riley Greene struck out and you had to wonder if the Squander Squid was going to be out today. Not this time, though (although he’d resurface later in the game): Spencer Torkelson singled to left to score Torres with Pérez advancing to third, and Zach McKinstry — more on him below — doubled to score Pérez and push Torkelson up to third and tie the score.

Matt Vierling walked to load the bases, and Parker Meadows bashed a ground ball into the dirt to first. Aranda, the first baseman, fielded it and fired to second, hoping for the inning-ending double play; instead, Meadows beat the throw to first, avoiding making the third out and allowing Torkelson to score for a 3-2 Tigers lead.

In the top of the fifth, Olson walked Danny Jansen to lead things off, and after a lineout he walked Aranda. Would his day end in the fifth like it did in his previous start? It would not! He induced a ground ball to McKinstry at shortstop, which was turned into a nifty 6-4-3 double play, ending the inning. That was the end of Olson’s day, and his final line went thusly: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K.

Brant Hurter — the old one, the fixed one, the one we liked — came on to start the sixth. After facing three batters and retiring two of them, Chase Lee entered with Mangum on second and two outs with the Tigers up 3-2. That move backfired spectacularly: a double, single, double and single in eleven pitches put the Rays up 6-3, and that essentially sealed up the game. A grounder to first ended the inning but the damage had been done.

Lee carried on into the seventh and threw two pitches; the second was deposited into the left-field seats by Caminero for a 7-3 lead. Dietrech Enns was brought into put out the fire, which he did.

In the bottom half of the inning the Tigers looked to get some of those runs back: with one out Jake Rogers walked and Colt Keith singled, pushing Rogers up to third. After a popout, pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones walked to load the bases with two outs and Greene strode to the plate… only to strike out and strand three. Squander Squiiiiiiiiid!!!

Old Friend™ Mason Englert came on for the Rays in the bottom of the eighth and had a 1-2-3 inning. Detroit couldn’t get much going against Pete Fairbanks in the ninth either, and that was the game. The Tigers have Thursday off before taking on the Seattle Mariners at home for a three-game series leading up to the All-Star Break.

Final score: Rays 7, Tigers 3

Dr. Steve Brule in the House

It’s not often you see a ceremonial first pitch include a checking of a runner back to first, but hey, it’s not often that John C. Reilly takes the mound. He also later sang Happy Birthday to Jack White, who turned 50 today, and holy mackerel, Jack White is 50?! Time ain’t slowing down, folks.

Notes, Numbers and Remembrances

• Early in the game, Zach McKinstry was named as an injury replacement for the All-Star Game. Hooray!
• Colt Keith’s OPS by month: .580, .838, .770 and, in 26 plate appearances in July before today’s game, 1.452.
• No word yet on whether or not Keith is going to ever endorse a brand of beard oil, given how his recent power surge has been accompanied by some stylish stubble. We’ll be sure to keep you updated.
• Did you see how the Phillies-Giants game ended on Tuesday night? Runners at the corners, bottom of the ninth, one out, Giants down by two. Patrick Bailey, a catcher, smashed a long drive to right-centre; it hit high off the brick wall and bounced all the way to left-centre, eluding the outfielders as Bailey chugged his way around the bases for a walk-off, inside-the-park three-run home run. That’s nuts.
• Happy (posthumus) birthday to English neurologist Oliver Sacks. He also wrote several popular books about various neurological conditions, including prosopagnosia, or “face blindness” (from which Sacks suffered), in his best-seller The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat.