Detroit Tigers blanked, 4-0, by Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day: Game thread recap
Opening Day 2023: Detroit Tigers (66-96 in 2022) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (86-76 in 2022)
When: 3:10 p.m. Thursday.
Where: Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1) and WXYT-AM (1270); (other radio affiliates).
Probable starting pitchers: Tigers LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5, 4.05 ERA in 2022) vs. Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (12-8, 2.54 ERA in 2022).
Tigers' lineup:
RF Matt Vierling
SS Javier Báez
CF Riley Greene
C Eric Haase
1B Spencer Torkelson
LF Austin Meadows
DH Miguel Cabrera
2B Jonathan Schoop
3B Ryan Kreidler
P Eduardo Rodriguez
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Game notes: Despite the Tigers’ … er … difficulties winning over the past six seasons (with their most recent winning record coming in 2016), they’ve been mostly successful on Opening Day. They’re 4-2 in the six openers over that span, with the only losses coming in 2018 (an 13-inning affair that featured the potential walk-off winning run against the Pittsburgh Pirates overturned via replay review) and 2020 (when the season didn’t begin until late July, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This is the Tigers’ third Opening Day in St. Petersburg; they beat the then-Devil Rays, 11-6, in the franchise’s MLB debut in March 31, 1998 — Aww, they’re turning 25! Finally old enough to rent a car! (A compact economy budget-saver, of course; these are still the Rays…) — then returned on April 2, 2002 for a 9-5 loss at Tropicana Field in front of 38,142 fans. (Yes, that was the Rays’ attendance for a single game, and not the homestand — we checked.)
The Rays have grown a lot as a franchise since then, and are coming off four straight playoff appearances. They don’t spend a lot, but they make smart moves — stealing 2021 AL Rookie of the Year Randy Arozarena from the Cardinals in a trade —and draft well, including today’s starter, lefty Shane McClanahan, the No. 31 overall pick in the 2018 draft out of the University of South Florida (which is actually north of St. Petersburg). McClanahan was a beast last season, striking out 194 and walking 38 over 166 1/3 innings en route to a 2.54 ERA, the starting nod for the AL in the All-Star Game and a sixth-place finish in AL Cy Young voting.
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The Tigers, meanwhile, will send lefty Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound for his second Opening Day start for the franchise; last season’s outing — like so many for the Tigers — went awry early, as he gave up three runs over four innings at Comerica Park before a late Tigers rally turned a loss into a 5-4 victory.
After the opener, both teams have Friday off — just in case a surprise snowstorm breaks out at the Trop on Thursday, we suppose — before picking up the series at 4:10 p.m. Saturday with a matchup between right-hander Spencer Turnbull and righty Zach Eflin (the Rays’ big offseason signing, and a childhood friend of Tigers center fielder Riley Greene).
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose Opening Day to Tampa Bay, 4-0: Game thread recap
