TAMPA — The Rays missed a chance for a sweep of the Tigers, and the historical connotations that would have come with it, losing 9-3 to the Tigers on Sunday afternoon.
The game was 1-1 until the seventh inning.
Tampa Bay’s Garrett Cleavinger, working his second inning in relief of starter Zack Littell, walked leadoff man Spencer Torkelson, then allowed a two-run homer to Wenceel Perez.
The Tigers added six runs off Forrest Whitley to open a 9-1 lead in the ninth, which also included an 18-minute rain delay. The Rays loaded the bases to start their half of the inning, but got only two runs on a single by Taylor Walls.
The Rays dropped to 43-35 with the loss, and their majors-best record since May 20 fell to 22-9.
With a win, they would have become the fifth team in modern history (since 1901) to record two sweeps within a three-series span of the team that entered play with the best record in the majors, having taken three straight from the Mets last weekend in New York.
The others: 2017 Diamondbacks (vs. Dodgers), 1998 Royals (vs. A’s), 1982 Dodgers (vs. Braves), 1925 Browns (A’s, Nationals)
The Rays also would have become the fifth team with two such sweeps in the same calendar month.
That group was the 1988 Royals, 1978 Rangers (Red Sox), 1944 Pirates (Cardinals), 1925 Browns.
The Tigers struck first with a run in the second.
Riley Greene, the product of Oviedo near Orlando, led off with a double, moved to third when Perez hit a fly to deep center that Jake Mangum ran down and scored on a two-out single by Dillon Dingler.
The Rays got even in the fourth.
It took only one swing, as Junior Caminero launched a 1-1 slurve from Casey Mize over the leftfield fence, estimated at 379 feet.
That was Caminero’s team-leading 19th homer of the season. With 19 games until the July 14-17 All-Star break, he is well positioned to become the sixth Ray to reach the 20-homer mark by that point of a season. The last to do so was Brandon Lowe in 2021.
Zack Littell gave the Rays a strong start, allowing just the one run and four hits with no walks and five strikeouts over five innings. He was pulled after throwing just 69 pitches, with 53 for strikes, on another steamy afternoon, with a 12:10 first-pitch temperature of 89 and a feels-like of 100.
Also notable: Littell didn’t add to his majors-leading total of 22 home runs after allowing eight combined over his previous four starts. His last homerless start was May 26.
Cleavinger worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning before allowing the two runs in the seventh.
The Rays had several scoring opportunities thwarted by good defensive plays by the Tigers, including several catches by Greene.
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Explore all your optionsMonday: Off
Next game: at Royals, 7:40 Tuesday, Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City
Probable pitchers: Rays — Rays, RH Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95); Royals — LH Kris Bubic (6-4, 2.12)
TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Sun; 95.3-FM, 620-AM, 106.7-FM (Spanish)
Info: raysbaseball.com
On deck
Wednesday: at Royals, 7:40. Rays, RH Drew Rasmussen (6-4, 2.55); Royals, RH Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.24)
Thursday: at Royals, 2:10. Rays, RH Shane Baz (7-3, 4.79); Royals, RH Michael Lorenzen (4-7, 4.81)
Friday: at Orioles, 7:05. Rays, RH Ryan Pepiot (5-6, 3.04); Orioles, TBA
Saturday: at Orioles, 4:05. Rays, RH Zack Littell (6-7, 3.78); Orioles, TBA
Sunday: at Orioles, 1:35. Rays, RH Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95); Orioles, TBA