PETERSBURG, Florida — Curtis Mead hit his first home run of the season and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game series sweep.
Ben Rortvedt got his second RBI of the game with a single and scored on Mead’s two-run liner off Will Vest (1-1) that put the Rays up 7-5 in the sixth inning. It was Mead’s first homer since September 22, 2023.
Tampa Bay had lost three straight games and five of its last seven.
The Tigers completed a six-game road trip with a 4-2 record and are 10-4 on the road on the season.
After being down by three at the start, Detroit took a 5-4 lead in the sixth with an RBI single by Buddy Kennedy and the 600th RBI by Puerto Rican Javier Báez who came thanks to a double against Chris Devenski (1-1) .
Jason Adam worked two perfect innings before Garrett Cleavinger did the same in the ninth for his second save in as many opportunities.
For the Tigers, Puerto Rican Báez went 1 for 3 with one run scored and one RBI.
For the Rays, Mexican Isaac Paredes went 2-for-4 with one run scored. Cuban Yandy Díaz went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Panamanian José Caballero 3-1 with one run scored and one RBI. Mexican-Cuban Randy Arozarena went 1 for 4 with one run scored and one RBI. The Colombian Harold Ramírez 4-1 with one scored and the Dominican Amed Rosario 4-1.
