Inside The Rays

Tigers Get 9th-Inning Home Run Off Andrew Kittredge, Beat Rays 3-2 Monday Night

Tampa Bay's hitters keep forcing their pitching staff to be perfect, but a few mistakes on Monday night cost the Rays in a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. They won it in the ninth inning on a Harold Castro home run off of Rays closer Andrew Kittredge to take the series opener.

Tom Brew

Tigers Get 9th-Inning Home Run Off Andrew Kittredge, Beat Rays 3-2 Monday Night
Tigers Get 9th-Inning Home Run Off Andrew Kittredge, Beat Rays 3-2 Monday Night /

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay's banged-up offense is struggling right now, and it was a problem again on Monday night in the series opener against the Detroit Tigers. The lack of runs has forced the pitching staff to be nearly perfect.

Some nights, just ''nearly perfect'' isn't enough.

The Tigers won 3-2, scoring all of their runs on home runs, a two-run shot by Jonathan Schoop in the fourth inning off of starter Corey Kluber, and then a dagger home run by Harold Castro in the ninth after the Rays had just tied the game.

Castro's homer came off of Andrew Kittredge, who has now given up three homers in the past nine days. He left a cutter out over the plate, and that one mistake was the difference in the game.

"It was a cutter. I was trying to go up-and-in there, got pretty close but didn't quite get there, and he put a good swing on it,'' Kittredge said. "Some are good pitches (during this tough stretch), some aren't executed as great. I'm going to continue to be aggressive. 

"I think anybody would be lying to you if they said it didn't test them a little bit, but I still really like where I'm at with my stuff and my mentality, and I feel like I'm just going to get right back on. It just comes down to execution.''

It was the same with Kluber, too. After getting shelled for eight runs in three innings in his last start against the Los Angeles Angels, he wanted to add more quality to his strikes against the Tigers. He did just that, allowing just four hits and striking out eight. The homer to Schoop scored Miguel Cabrera, who had singled to lead off the inning.

It was his one mistake.

"Corey was awesome,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash. "When you go through an outing and only want one pitch back, generally you're throwing the ball well. That's Corey. He's going to make adjustments and keep us in games.''

That was certainly the case Monday, because the Rays scratched their way back into the game with an unlikely hero. Brett Phillips, who's been struggling offensively and was hitting just .145 coming into the game, hit a home run in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 2-1.

Brett Phillips can run fast. We know that. He showed off his speed on the homer — even when he didn't have to.

"The umpire said fair ball and I didn't know which ring it hit,'' Phillips said. ''I was just trying to get to the next base, and that was literally it. I saw it come back in play, so I just kept running.''

In the eighth, Phillips was involved again, hustling to stretch out a double with one out. It was his third hit of the game, his first three-hit outing since May 6, 2021 against the Angels.

Yandy Diaz walked and they both moved up a base after a wild pitch by Tigers reliever Michael Fuller. Phillips then scored on a long fly ball to center by Wander Franco.

Kittredge came on to pitch the ninth, but got that cutter up but over the plate to Castro. It was Castro's first home run of the year after 62 at-bats. It was the Tigers' fourth straight win.

It was the third home run allowed by Kittredge in the past nine days. "Kitt's just left some balls in the middle of the plate. But he'll be fine.''

In the bottom of the ninth, left-handed closer Gregory Soto came on for the Tigers. Isaac Paredes, who was just recalled from Durham earlier in the day when Brandon Lowe was put on the injured list, pinch-hit for Ji-Man Choi, but he popped up to first base. Vidal Brujuan struck out for the second out.

Harold Ramirez pinch-hit for Kevin Kiermaier and got a single up the middle. Catcher Mike Zunino, who was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on the night coming into that final at-bat, battled to a full count, but then flew out to deep center field to end the game. 

This is the fourth time in the past eight games where the Rays have scored two runs or less. They've lost Manuel Margot — who leads the team with a .348 batting average — and Brandon Lowe, who's tops in home runs with five, to the injured list in the past two days.

Other guys in thee lineup need to turn this around. And fast.

"With B-Lowe out now and Manny out, we have to have guys step up. We can't always depend on doing it late,'' Phillips said. "Our pitching has done great all year long, and we've got to help them out early in the game and give them a lead, and that's what we're going to try to do. 

"We've all got to step up with guys out, and that's the reality of it. Good teams, they get production one through nine.''

It was Detroit rookie Alex Faedo who shut down the Rays most of the night. The Tampa product — he was a star at Alonso High School and then at the University of Florida, where he won a national championship in 2017 — pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed just the Phillips homer.

He gave up four hits, walked one and struck four. He was painted the edges with his four-seam fastball and had right-handed hitters chasing his slider out of the zone. Lefties couldn't handle his change-up. The Rays swung and missed 13 times, eight against Faedo's slider on 17 swings.

"I tried my best to keep it slow and take my time, because I know a moment like that can speed you up,'' Faedo said of making his first start back at home. “It just reminded me to go pitch by pitch and not be too anxious. It was a dream come true for sure. I've been to a ton of games here, and it was a really special moment.”

Related stories on Rays 

  • JUST FOR STARTERS: Corey Kluber pitched well for the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night against the Detroit Tigers, but he made one mistake, giving up a home run ball to Jonathan Schoop in the fourth inning. Here's our nightly "Just For Starters'' breakdown on Kluber's night, plus the cumulative stats for the Rays' rotation all season. CLICK HERE
  • SHORT MEMORY FOR KITTREDGE: Despite the fact that he blew two saves earlier in the week, Tampa Bay reliever Andrew Kittredge was terrific this weekend against Toronto, picking up a win and a save and pitching great in stressful situations. Quickly forgetting past results, good or bad, is the key for the veteran closer. CLICK HERE
  • RAYS SCHEDULE: Here is the complete 2022 Tampa Bay Rays schedule, with results so far plus dates, gametimes and locations for the rest of the games on their schedule. CLICK HERE

Watch Andrew Kittredge's postgame interview

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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.

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