ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The circus left town this afternoon.
In three days at Tropicana Field, the Tigers’ defense put on a show of how not to play defense, distracted by fans in the mostly empty dome, tricked by the newly-installed synthetic field turf , running into each other on routine pop-ups.
Today was no different. Starting left-handed pitcher Daniel Norris was the victim in an 8-1 loss to the Rays. It started with the first fly ball of the game, which Tyler Collins misplayed in rightfield for a double.
The Rays quickly nullified Ian Kinsler’s lead-off home run with a run in the bottom of the first inning, and allowed the Tigers four more hits the rest of the way.