Tampa Bay 8, Detroit 0
When: 7:08 PM ET, Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Where: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
Temperature:
77°
Umpires:
Home -
Tim Timmons, 1B -
Tim Welke, 2B -
Todd Tichenor, 3B -
Chris Segal
Attendance:
25932
By The Sports Xchange
DETROIT -- Run support has eluded Jake Odorizzi most of the season. He finally got plenty of it and snapped a string of seven winless starts in the process.
Odorizzi pitched six shutout innings and the Tampa Bay offense backed him with four solo home runs as the Rays thumped the Detroit Tigers 8-0 on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.
Pitching with a lead had been a luxury for Odorizzi, who received the lowest run support in the American League through his first 23 starts. The Rays were scoring 3.16 runs per nine innings for him before their outburst.
"Any time we're hitting the ball like that, it's nice to be out there," said Odorizzi (7-8), who scattered six hits and struck out six. "That's kind of the story of the game. It didn't matter who was up there; everybody hit well today. It's good to be the beneficiary of that, put up some zeroes and let them keep hitting."
His last win was also against the Tigers, on July 28. He got out of a two-out, two-on jam in the third when Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez hit a long fly ball that center fielder Brandon Guyer tracked down. He also struck out designated hitter Miguel Cabrera in a similar spot in the fifth.
"The last one, I just threw it as hard as I could and challenged him," Odorizzi said. "It's either going to be hit 500 feet or it's going to be a strikeout. I just went for it and he swung through it."
Rays designated hitter Logan Forsythe and second baseman Tim Beckham homered and drove in two runs apiece. Catcher J.P. Arencibia and right fielder Mikie Mahtook also blasted solo home runs for the Rays (68-71), who snapped a three-game losing streak by taking the finale of a three-game series. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera added a two-run double.
The four homers came in an eight-batter stretch spanning the sixth and seventh innings.
"When Logan hit that home run, it felt like the floodgates kind of opened up," Mahtook said. "Baseball is a contagious game. Once he did that, the next guy did it and the next guy did it. That's when baseball gets really fun."
Losing pitcher Kyle Lobstein (3-7) was charged with five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. The Tigers' staff has given up a major-league-high 170 homers.
"It was kind of a mixed bag," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said of Lobstein's outing. "He had six strikeouts and got some swings and misses. But, obviously, he gave up some runs and a couple of long balls."
Detroit (64-75) has been shut out on eight occasions, including five times since Aug. 10.
"We've had 54-something games with two runs or less. It's tough to explain," Ausmus said. "Tonight, a lot of it had to do with the fact that our defense was standing out on the field 20 minutes at a time as we're trying to get through innings. That doesn't really help."
The Rays broke through with three runs against Lobstein in the fourth. Mahtook drew a one-out walk and third baseman Evan Longoria followed with a single. Forsythe poked an opposite-field double to bring home Mahtook and Cabrera followed with a line-drive double to left-center, knocking in Longoria and Forsythe.
Lobstein was removed in the sixth after giving up solo shots to Forsythe and Beckham. The Rays tacked on three more runs in the seventh.
NOTES: Detroit DH Victor Martinez was back in the clubhouse but remained out of the lineup for the third straight game because of an illness. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus expects Martinez to start the opener of a four-game series at Cleveland on Thursday. ... Tampa Bay CF Kevin Kiermaier was not in the lineup as manager Kevin Cash decided to rest the Gold Glove candidate. Kiermaier had appeared in all but one game since June 27. ... The Rays' 13-inning loss on Tuesday was their 10th consecutive extra-innings defeat, the most in one season since the 2012 Houston Astros lost 11 straight extra-innings games. ... The Tigers' James McCann has not committed an error in his first 102 games as a catcher, which is a major league record in the modern era (since 1900). The previous record was 93 games by Frankie Pytlak of the Cleveland Indians (1932-34). McCann was out of the lineup Wednesday after catching all 13 innings on Tuesday.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Tampa Bay
|
13 |
4 |
28 |
.351 |
12 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
Detroit
|
7 |
0 |
10 |
.219 |
16 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |