As someone who also covers the Tigers, I honestly don’t know what to tell everyone.
I barely recognized the Tigers this series. Their offense was present, their defense was functional. No one is more surprised than I am. Going in I predicted they would luck their way into a single game win. Thankfully, I was right, but it got uncomfortably close for the past two games.
So what happened today?
Well for starters, aside from an unlucky first inning for both starters, it wasn’t until the seventh that things started to get ugly. Trevor Richards, making his Rays debut, looked pretty solid all things considered (he and catcher Mike Zunino didn’t even meet for the first time until right before the game).