Sunday, 4 a.m.
Now that the Tigers are in ashes, the question is simple: Just who is playing the best baseball in the major leagues?
Don’t look now, but maybe it’s the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays continued their tear Saturday afternoon, smoking a Detroit Tigers team that has dominated the American League this year. This time, they scored eight times in an 8-3 victory.
But Detroit doesn’t really have a gripe. The Rays have been doing that sort of thing to the best teams in the league as of late.
The Mets? Swept them. The Padres? Swept them. The Tigers? They go for the sweep today.
No one in baseball has a better record against teams above .500 than the Rays, who have closed to within a game and a half of the Yankees in the AL East despite a slow start. Tampa Bay has won 22 of its last 30 games.
Despite a quality opponent, this was was rather routine for the Rays. They scored eight times (and have scored 22 in the first two games of the series).
Junior Caminero hit his 18th home run for the Rays. Yandy Diaz had two hits.
For the Rays, 6-10 inch rookie Paul Gervase made his big league debut, throwing two shutout innings.
Ryan Pepiot improved his record to 5-6 with the win, striking out seven in five innings.
The Rays go for a sweep against the Tigers today at 1:10 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field. Zack Littell will start for the Rays against Casey Mize.