Sunday, with lefty Joey Wentz going for Detroit and lefty Jeffrey Springs going for Tampa Bay.
TAMPA RAYS SCORE TODAY SERIES
OK, that’s enough being positive for one afternoon, eh? After today’s game, the Tigers and Rays wrap up their series at 1:10 p.m. Just consider last season’s Opening Day, in which Torkelson put the ball in play just twice (while striking out twice) - fly balls with exit velocities of 94.7 and 84.3 mph. (He also had a so-so 82.6 mph grounder that went 8 feet.) It’s a small sample size - just four plate appearances - but the 75% hard-hit rate is also a healthy improvement over Torkelson’s woeful 41.8% hard-hit rate last season. Torkelson had groundouts on Thursday of 102.4, 100.7 and 100.3 mph - that traveled a combined 67 feet, unfortunately. Three of those belonged to second-year first baseman Spencer Torkelson, continuing his run of hard-hit balls from spring training. POWER COMPANY? It’s a good thing the Trop has artificial grass, ’cause the Tigers hit some absolute wormburners on Thursday, with four groundball outs with exit velocities above 100 mph. And compared to last year’s openers? The 2022 average was more than 3:16, with the shortest game coming in at 2:49 and the Tigers’ 5-4 walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox clocking in at 3:30. The lengths of those games: 3:38, 3:10, 3:04 and 3:02 - in other words, still shorter than your typical May game between the Red Sox and Yankees.
TAMPA RAYS SCORE TODAY PLUS
The average game length was just a bit over 2:45, and that included a pair of 10-9 finishes, an 11-7 game and a 5-4 game in Cincinnati that featured a combined 15 walks and 26 strikeouts, plus a pair of pitch clock violations. The Tigers’ game Thursday was the shortest of the 15 played - well, it tied with the Seattle Mariners’ 3-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians - but the pitch clock seemed to have an effect across the schedule.
The Tigers had just two games end that quickly last season: A 5-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on June 1 that went 2:13 and a 4-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sept. Despite a combined 18 baserunners and 13 strikeouts, they wrapped things up in two hours, 14 minutes. MOVING QUICK: Baseball’s new rules designed to speed the game along - including a pitch clock and limited throws to first and batter timeouts - certainly seemed to have an effect on the Tigers and Rays. Maybe it’s the Tropicana Field … juice?)įEELING GOOD? What to expect from Tigers in 2023 season: 'I feel like we're going to be better' (In all, just 10 Tigers have had at least three hits on Opening Day this century, though we’ll note that three others did it just before the 2000s began, with Damion Easley, Luis Gonzalez and Joe Randa doing it against Tampa Bay in the franchise’s first game, back in 1998. And Meadows is the first Tiger to do it without extra innings since Austin Jackson and Jhonny Peralta went 3-for-5 and 3-for-3, respectively, against the Boston Red Sox in 2012. That made him the first Tiger with three hits on Opening Day since Ian Kinsler went 3-for-6 in 11 innings against the Miami Marlins in 2016. With that in mind, here are three positive takeaways from Thursday’s opener.ĪUSTIN HIT-TY LIMITS? Austin Meadows, who played in jgames in his first campaign with the Tigers due to myriad injuries and a mental health break, quietly went 3-for-4 (including a double off tough lefty Shane McClanahan). After all, the team that was shut out a franchise-record 22 times last season is riding an 11-inning scoreless streak that dates back to the final two innings of their 2022 finale - that’s a span of 178 days without a run, which … is a lot, even for the Tigers.īut it was also just Game 1 of 162 - there’s a lot of baseball left, so we should at least try to stay positive. Game notes: It’s tough to be optimistic after the Tigers were shut out on Opening Day - just the sixth time in franchise history that has happened, and the first time since 1989. Rays RHP Zach Eflin (3-5, 4.04 ERA in 2022 with Phillies).įOUR BURNING QUESTIONS: Who'll break out - Tork, Maton, or someone else?įROM THE NEWSLETTER: Can Miguel Cabrera get to 20th all-time in home runs? Probable starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Spencer Turnbull (4-2, 2.88 ERA in 2021 missed last season) vs. Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 other radio affiliates).
View Gallery: Fine eats at Comerica Park: What's new to eat at Tigers games in 2023 Game 2: Detroit Tigers (0-1) vs.
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