The Tampa Bay Rays challenged the the Detroit Tigers yesterday at Tropicana Field with the Rays triumphant 7 to 4. It was a thrilling night of baseball that anyone with Rays tickets will definitely cherish.
Rays pitcher Jeff Niemann (3.08 ERA) got the win, while Eddie Bonine (3.44 ERA) took the loss for the Tigers. Jeff Niemann went 6 innings for the Rays, allowed 8 hits, 2 home runs and 4 earned runs with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Also pitching for the Rays was Grant Balfour (2.08), and Joaquin Benoit (0.76). The Tigers’s starter Eddie Bonine went 3.1 innings, allowed 8 hits, no home runs and 5 earned runs with one walk and one strikeout. Brad Thomas (4.20), Phil Coke (2.34), and Ryan Perry (4.99) also pitched for the Tigers. With the win, Niemann’s record goes to 9-3, while Bonine falls to 4-1. Rafael Soriano earned the save for the Rays, bringing his saves up to 28.
In addition to the 7 runs, the Rays managed 14 hits and committed no errors. Evan Longoria led the Rays in hitting with 3 hits, followed by Reid Brignac’s 2 hits, and Carlos Pena with 2. Matt Joyce had a tough day at the plate, leaving 4 runners on base. The Tigers didn’t have anyone with a big night with not one batter getting more than 2 hits. Brennan Boesch could not get much going at the plate as he left 5 runners on base. The Tigers mustered 4 runs, 9 hits and no errors.
Umpiring duties were performed by Gary Cederstrom, Ed Hickox, Field Culbreth and Manny Gonzalez. There were 16,209 Rays ticket holders in attendance at Tropicana Field.