ST. PETERSBURG -- The first thing that stands out walking into renovated Tropicana Field is the new roof. It’s more translucent than its predecessor, allowing more light onto the field. It made the struggling Tigers -- who arrived on the heels of a miserable record in May -- look brighter coming in, even before they took a swing against Rays pitching.
Three games and three wins later, the doom and gloom that had hovered over Detroit baseball for a month has finally let up. The Tigers returned home with their first road series win since they opened the season in San Diego in March, and their first sweep at Tampa Bay in 10 years, capped by a 7-2 win on Wednesday afternoon. And an offense that batted just .204 in May with a .597 OPS for the month flat-out slugged for three games.
“We had a great series against a really good team at a place that’s tough to play,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “The Trop is not easy to come to just by their style of play and the uniqueness of the ballpark. We flipped the month and we played three of our best games in a while.”
Put it another way: The same Detroit team that scored 81 runs in May scored 25 runs over the first three days in June, their highest-scoring three-game stretch since last September.
“It was a rough May, a really rough May,” Jake Rogers said. “I think the boys were down and out, just looking for the next thing to get us over that hump. Kept getting punched, couldn’t get out of that hole. ... It felt really good to come in here and be aggressive, and I think that was the mode of this series. We’ve been kind of playing timid. This team has a lot of fun, and I think that kind of the voice of the clubhouse: Go back to who we are and at least have fun while we’re doing it.”
How did the Tigers turn it around at the plate?
1. Healthy returns
The Tigers’ well-chronicled injury woes hampered their rotation, but they took a big chunk of production and experience out of the lineup, too, putting a ton of pressure on the guys left standing. Kerry Carpenter’s return from the injured list on Sunday in Chicago brought a big bat back. Gleyber Torres’ return Tuesday provided another.
Both had big series. Carpenter, having eased in with two at-bats as the DH on Sunday against the White Sox, got back to his formidable form in Monday’s series opener, homering off Griffin Jax and falling a triple shy of the cycle. One night later, Torres returned in the leadoff spot and worked a 3-1 count against Rays lefty Steven Matz before sending a home run to left. Torres hit Wednesday’s first pitch from Nick Martinez into the left-field corner for a leadoff double to set up another run, and Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly for the final run.
The returns had a trickle-down impact on the lineup. Kevin McGonigle, who had Tuesday off, moved into the second spot in the order behind Torres on Wednesday. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson could move around Carpenter in the middle of the lineup. And the bottom half of the order became more productive with Matt Vierling and a quietly resurgent Wenceel Pérez moving down.
2. Dingler dingers
Hard to overestimate the impact Dillon Dingler had on this series, from his two homers, four runs and four RBIs on Monday to his three-run homer on Wednesday to break the series finale open. He batted 6-for-13 (.462) with three homers and nine RBIs for the series, and he just missed another home run on Monday with a double to the deepest part of left-center.
“If he's not player of the week, I'm glad we're not facing the guy that wins it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He might be player of the month after this series."
Even with the Tigers’ lineup getting closer to full strength, Dingler’s importance has reached the point where he was a logical fit at designated hitter on Wednesday, even against right-hander Nick Martinez.
3. Productive at-bats
Detroit put on a power display with nine home runs for the series, making Tropicana Field feel like a second home. But the highlight drives overshadowed some excellent work advancing baserunners, manufacturing offense and converting opportunities, as the Tigers got back to their pass-the-baton mentality at the plate.
Tuesday’s win featured three sacrifice flies, including Dingler’s fly ball for a second run in the opening inning and two critical add-on runs in the sixth. On Wednesday, Torkelson made sure the Tigers got something out of a bases-loaded chance in the third, lifting a ball to center to score McGonigle. Rogers hit his first homer of the season in Wednesday’s second inning, then he laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Vierling in the fourth, becoming the fifth Tiger in the last 15 years with a home run and a sacrifice in the same game.
“Even if we don’t get the results, if we can put up quality at-bats like that, it’s a very recognizable offense to put some pressure on the other side,” Hinch said. “We had multiple guys have really good days, and we teamed up at-bats. To piece together the at-bats that we did together creates a team offense that put pressure on them.”
Tiger baserunners helped, too, repeatedly challenging for extra bases and advancing on outs as speedy Rays outfielders played deep in an effort to deny extra-base hits.