Joey Wendle had a triple and a home run, Dietrich Enns tossed four innings of hitless relief for his first career victory, and the Tampa Bay Rays topped the host Detroit Tigers 7-2 on Saturday.
Wendle’s homer was his 10th of the season. Kevin Kiermaier supplied two extra-base hits, scored twice and drove in a run, while Brandon Lowe contributed two hits and drove in two runs.
Taylor Walls, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, added two hits and a run scored. He took the roster spot of star rookie Wander Franco, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain.
Chris Archer pitched the first four innings and gave up one run on two hits. Enns (1-0) struck out six during his stellar stint.
Robbie Grossman blasted his career-high 23rd home run for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera added an RBI single but Detroit, which scored 10 runs in the series opener on Friday, was limited to three hits.
The Rays scored three runs against Tigers starter Casey Mize (7-8) in the second inning. Wendle tripled with one out and scored on Mike Zunino’s fielder’s choice grounder as he beat the tag at home plate. Zunino scored on Kiermaier’s triple and, following a walk, Kiermaier scored on Lowe’s sacrifice fly.
Wendle led off the fourth against Bryan Garcia with his homer to right. Tampa Bay added another run in the inning on a Kiermaier double and Lowe single to make it 5-0.
The Tigers got on the board in the fourth when Jonathan Schoop led off with a double and scored on Cabrera’s one-out single.
The Rays pushed across a run in the fifth against Drew Hutchison. Nelson Cruz singled, advanced on a groundout and wild pitch, and scored on Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly.
Austin Meadows had a sacrifice fly in the ninth. He knocked in Walls, who singled and moved up on Lowe’s ground-rule double.
Grossman’s long ball came off Shawn Armstrong.
The teams wrap up their season series on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
