Recap: Detroit vs. Tampa Bay
Sports Network | September 26, 2008
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Gary Sheffield homered twice -- Nos. 498 and 499 of his career -- and the Detroit Tigers again prevented the Rays from clinching the AL East with a 6-4 win over Tampa Bay in the second of a four- game set.
Tampa Bay, which clinched the first postseason berth in franchise history earlier this week, entered this series with a magic number of one, needing just a win or a Red Sox loss to clinch the division. The Rays didn't get either on Thursday. The Red Sox hosted the New York Yankees on Friday night.
The Rays entered play Friday with a two-game lead over the Red Sox.
Justin Verlander (11-17) fanned eight in five innings, giving up two runs on five hits with three walks to get the win for the Tigers, who had dropped six straight before this series.
Andy Sonnanstine (13-9) gave up five runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts and three walks for the loss. B.J. Upton went 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBI, and scored twice for Tampa Bay, which swept a four-game series in Baltimore before coming to Detroit.
Trailing 6-3 entering the ninth, the Rays nearly battled back against Fernando Rodney. Rocco Baldelli walked with one out, and a Dioner Navarro single put runners at the corners. Miguel Cabrera muffed a liner by Willy Aybar, scoring Baldelli to cut the deficit to two.
Ben Zobrist fouled out, though, and Jason Bartlett flied out, giving Rodney his 12th save.
The Tigers plated three runs in the first, but lost their second baseman in the process. Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco both walked to start the frame, and Magglio Ordonez laced a double to left, plating both. Polanco knocked legs with Rays catcher Navarro at the plate, though, and yelled in pain. Polanco limped off the field, and left the game with a sprained ankle.
Cabrera lined into a double play, but Sheffield followed with a screaming line drive over the fence in right. The solo homer gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Ramon Santiago belted his third homer in two days -- just his fourth of the season and the 10th of his career -- in the second, a two-run shot to right that put the Rays in a 5-0 hole.
Tampa Bay came back with a run in the third on Upton's RBI fielder's choice grounder, and Carlos Pena's RBI single in the fifth plated Upton, who had doubled, and cut the deficit to three runs.
Upton's solo homer to left with one out in the seventh, his ninth, pulled Tampa Bay within 5-3. Pena and Evan Longoria followed with singles, but pinch- hitter Baldelli struck out and Navarro flied out to end the threat. The Rays loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Pena lined out.
Sheffield ripped his second solo homer of the day in the eighth, a shot to left with one out, extending the Tigers lead to 6-3. The home runs for Sheffield were his 18th and 19th of the season, giving him his 38th career multi-homer game, and his third this season.
The makeup of the rained out game on September 13 between the Tigers and the Chicago White Sox is scheduled for Monday at 2:05 p.m. (et) in Chicago, if the game is necessary. If either Minnesota or Chicago leads the AL Central by more than one-half game after Sunday, then the game will not be needed...Verlander needed 113 pitches to get through five innings...Rays outfielder Carl Crawford was activated from the disabled list and pinch-ran in the ninth inning. Crawford had been sidelined for six weeks after surgery on his right middle finger.
