Right-hander Jake Faria threw eight shutout innings, but it took a pair of ninth-inning home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays to hold on and defeat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 for their ninth win in the last ten games.
Faria (2-1) allowed just three hits and a walk while throwing a season-high 112 pitches Monday. He struck out six Tigers hitters and threw a wild pitch.
Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann threw seven scoreless innings for Detroit, and Daniel Stumpf worked a perfect eighth inning before the bats finally got started in the ninth against closer Shane Greene. Denard Span worked a nine-pitch at-bat against Greene before working a walk, and C.J. Cron followed up with his seventh home run of the year, an opposite-field blast into the right-centerfield seats.
Brad Miller followed up two batters later with a solo blast of his own to make it a 3-0 game.
With Alex Colome unavailable for the ninth, manager Kevin Cash turned to Chaz Roe to try and get the final three outs. Roe struck out pinch-hitter Niko Goodrum to begin the inning, but hit Jacoby Jones with a pitch, allowed an infield hit to Jaimer Candelario, then hit Nicholas Castellanos with a pitch to load the bases. Cash then turned to Jose Alvarado, who gave up a two-run single to Victor Martinez to make the lead just a single run. The left-hander got James McCann to fly out, but walked John Hicks to re-load the bases before getting Dixon Machado to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game and notch his first career big-league save.
TUESDAY'S MATCHUP
Rays at Detroit Tigers, 7:10 p.m. first pitch, pregame coverage on WDAE begins at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Crown Eurocars
Rays starter - RHP Chris Archer (2-1, 6.61 ERA)
Tigers starter - RHP Matthew Boyd (0-2, 2.74 ERA)
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday - Rays at Detroit Tigers, 1:10 p.m. first pitch
Thursday - OFF
Friday - Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 7:10 p.m. first pitch
Saturday - Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 6:10 p.m. first pitch
Sunday - Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays, 1:10 p.m. first pitch