Rays 5, Tigers 2: Struggles continue for Matthew Boyd, Tigers

Another day, another bad inning for Matthew Boyd, another loss for the Detroit Tigers. That was the theme tonight in Tampa for the Tigers as they fell to the Rays 5-2, and to 40-54 on the season.

Things started really well for Boyd. He set down the first seven Rays batters in a row, and gave hope he might be kicking his recent slump to the curb. Sadly, it turned out that was not the case. Carlos Gomez reached base on a walk in the bottom of the third, and then a series of lazy fielding mistakes would allow two runs to score. The inning fully unraveled when Wilson Ramos crushed a three-run home run to right, bumping the score 5-0. Just like that, Boyd had given up a bunch of runs and the Tigers were down by five early.

To Boyd’s credit, he was able to get through another three frames scoreless. It would prove to not be much of a silver lining, though, as a patchwork combination of Rays relievers held the the Tigers scoreless for most of the evening. Through the first eight innings, Ryne Stanek, José Alvarado, Jaime Schultz, and Adam Kolarek held the Tigers to just two soft singles and a walk.

José Iglesias drew the ire of some fans today, and also of Dan Dickerson and Jim Price, as he was caught stealing second base on a questionable decision in a 5-0 game in the fifth inning. He had just reached on a walk to lead off the innings but chose to take off and was thrown out easily. He was later removed from the game after being hit by a pitch.

The Tigers did mount another late inning rally against Kolarek, breaking up the shutout. Jeimer Candelario, Nicholas Castellanos, and Niko Goodrun strung together three hits to bring home two runs. The rally fizzled quickly, though, as John Hicks hit a line drive to Rays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría that was dropped, but Hicks forgot to run the play out and was thrown out at first, not having gone more than 20 feet from home. The Rays would put the late rally to bed for good as Sergio Romo got the final out to end the game.

Ugh...

• Since the beginning of June, in Boyd’s last eight games he sports an ugly 7.19 ERA. Compare that to his 3.00 ERA in his 10 starts across April and May, and... yeesh.
• José Iglesias would leave the game in the eight inning after being hit in the hands on an inside fastball.