Thursday, 4 a.m.
The last thing you might expect from the Tampa Bay Rays is the guy from down under to go up and over.
Curtis Mead, hardly a fence-buster, lifted the Rays to a 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers with a two-run homer in the sixth inning. It was Mead’s first home run of the season, and the second of his career. Mead is hitting .231 on the season.
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The Rays salvaged one win in the three-game series against the Tigers, but it didn’t come without a struggle.
Tampa Bay had built a 4-1 lead, but fell behind 5-4 with the Tigers’ two-run sixth.
The Rays came back with a strong day from the bullpen. Jason Adam went two hitless innings, and Garrett Cleavinger picked up his second save.
The Rays had 11 hits, including two each from Yandy Diaz, Isaac Paredes and Ben Rortvedt.
The Rays had lost four of their previous five games. They are now 13-13 on the season.
The Rays are off today, then play at the Chicago White Sox on Friday night at 7:40 p.m.