Rays turn to ’pen in 6th inning. That doesn’t turn out well vs. Tigers

TAMPA — Kevin Cash banked on the bullpen, and the Rays got bitten by the Tigers on Sunday afternoon, losing 9-3.

Zack Littell had given the Rays a strong first five innings in Sunday’s swelter, allowing just one run and four hits, and had done so throwing only 69 pitches, with an impressive 53 for strikes.

But with the score 1-all, and between where the Tigers were in their lineup and having his relievers rested with Monday to recover, Cash decided that was enough.

“Just given the (Monday) off-day, the matchup (with) them turning the lineup back over with (lefties Kerry) Carpenter and (Riley) Greene, those guys are really good,” Cash said. “I thought ‘Litt’ gave us every opportunity, and felt like where our bullpen was that we could try to shorten the game a little bit.”

Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz reacts after he lines into a double play to Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson to end the game. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

The Rays had been allowing their starters to go deeper in games this season. And that same off-day provides extra rest for each starter before his next turn as well.

Littell was caught a little off guard.

“Yeah, I was surprised, but with the off-day (Monday) and the pen being fresh like they were, I understand. That’s the way this team’s built,” he said.

“I’m not going to lie (and) say I wasn’t frustrated, and Cash acknowledged that. He knows that we want to be out there. But at the end of the day, this is the way that the team is built, and it’s going to give us the best chance to win.

“I think the bulk of the time, that’s going to pay off. (Sunday) it obviously didn’t.”

Garrett Cleavinger, the Rays’ top lefty reliever, made the move look good with a sixth inning that went well.

Cleavinger got Gleyber Torres to ground out. The Tigers pinch-hit for Carpenter, and Cleavinger got Jahmai Jones to fly out. Then Cleavinger struck out lefty Greene, the Oviedo native who was doing his usual damage against the Rays.

Rays starter Zack Littell admits he was “frustrated” by only pitching five innings Sunday, but says he understood the thinking by manager Kevin Cash. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

But Cleavinger went back out for the seventh, and that didn’t didn’t work out so well, with the game pretty much decided right then, and the chance for a sweep of the best team in baseball on a second straight weekend gone with it.

Cleavinger threw a first-pitch strike to righty Spencer Torkelson, then four balls, for the usually damaging leadoff walk.

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Then he threw two strikes to switch-hitter Wenceel Perez, and gave up a two-run homer.

The Rays had righty Edwin Uceta available, but Cash said they wanted to stick with the lefty at that point.

“We really wanted ‘Cleav’ to face Perez,” he said. “I know it didn’t work out, (but) to keep him turned around (and hitting right-handed).”

Cleavinger worked more than one inning in only three of his first 29 appearances (totaling 26 innings), then worked two in his previous outing on Wednesday (throwing 28 pitches). In 83 appearances over 2023-24, he completed two innings only once.

When Cleavinger finished the sixth Sunday, he said Cash told him he was going back out, and that it wasn’t a big deal.

“He just said, ‘Stay locked in.’ That’s kind of our job (to) stay locked in and be ready to go until they tell you otherwise,” Cleavinger said. “It doesn’t really change anything. Just stay locked in, continue to do your job, go out there and fill it up until they tell you otherwise.”

Tampa Bay’s José Caballero steals second base, while Tigers shortstop Javier Báez attempts to tag him out during the seventh inning. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

Cleavinger said he knew the walk to Torkelson was trouble.

“Definitely,” he said. “You never want to lead off the inning putting guys on base. So, yeah, I’ve got to try to limit the walks there.”

Obviously the home run, on an 0-2 fastball he left too much over the plate, was worse. It also was the sixth homer he has allowed in 31 appearances, accounting for seven of the nine earned runs he’s allowed.

“Yeah, 0-2, you never want to throw anything too close to the zone,” Cleavinger said. “You’ve got to expand a little bit, and I just didn’t get it up high enough.”

The Tigers took the 3-1 lead into the ninth, than ganged up on recent addition Forrest Whitley, who pitched through heavy rain before play was stopped for an 18-minute delay — to make it 9-1.

Given their comeback from an 8-0 deficit to Baltimore last week, the Rays briefly made it interesting by loading the bases to start their ninth and got two runs on Taylor Walls’ single, but nothing else. The final outs were symbolic of their hard-luck day — including 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position —with Yandy Diaz lacing a 100.6-mph line drive into a double play.

Still, the Rays have much to feel good about.

They took the series from the Tigers, went 4-3 on the homestand against two good teams, are still a majors-best 27-14 since May 9 and 22-9 since May 20.

“We’re playing really good baseball right now,” Cleavinger said. “It would have been nice to get a sweep, but you kind of have to lean on what we’ve done and playing some really good ball and just keep it going.”

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