The Tampa Bay Rays (43-34) defeated the Detroit Tigers (48-30) 8-3 on Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field. With the win, the Rays have won the series against the team with the best record in baseball coming into the weekend and are nine games above .500 for the first time in two years.
The Rays got on the board early - for the second game in a row, they put up four runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Every time the Tigers scored the Rays were able to answer, thanks in part to another big game for Yandy Diaz, who went 2-for-4 with a run scored. They got homers from Danny Jansen, Junior Caminero and Christopher Morel in this game.
Ryan Pepiot (5-6, 3.04) got the win pitching five innings in which he allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out seven and walking two. He was relieved by Paul Gervase, who was making his MLB debut and pitched two shutout innings to begin his major league career.
The Rays will now look to sweep the Tigers coming up on Sunday afternoon. Zack Littell (6-7, 3.88) is scheduled to pitch for the Rays and face Casey Mize (7-2, 2.96) to Detroit. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 PM - Chris Adams-Wall begins pregame coverage at 10:30 AM on 95.3 WDAE & AM 620, your Home of Rays Baseball.
COVER PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMAGES