Detroit Tigers walk off 11-10 win vs. Tampa Bay Rays in spring finale: Game thread recap
Grapefruit League: Detroit Tigers (13-16) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (15-12)
When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida.
TV: None.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; other radio affiliates).
Probable starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Edwin Uceta (0-1, 5.00 ERA this spring) vs. Rays RHP Cooper Criswell (0-0, 0.00 ERA this spring).
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Game notes: The Tigers wrap up their Grapefruit League slate with a visit from the Rays, who they won’t see again till Thursday . Yes, the Tigers and Rays open the regular season against each other in St. Petersburg, so they’re not exactly likely to pull out all the stops in this one. And thus we get the Criswell/Uceta matchup, with a combined 20 1/3 innings thrown in the majors last season.
Criswell is responsible for 3 1/3 of those innings, as he struck out four and allowed one run in his lone appearance for the Rays in 2022, a Sept. 12 start against Toronto. In the minors, however, the then-25-year-old showed excellent control and a bit of bad luck, striking out 33 and walking just six over 36 2/3 innings despite posting a 4.66 ERA in Triple-A.
Uceta, meanwhile, made 10 appearances for the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, strikeout out 13 and walking seven while posting a 5.82 ERA over 17 innings. He was a strikeout machine in Triple-A, however, with 70 in 50 innings. He was also a walk machine, unfortunately, handing out 30, which explains his 5.82 ERA with Reno, as well as why the D-Backs put him on waivers in January.
As we pointed out, the Tigers will have a few days off before heading slightly west to face the Rays again. Not so for the Rays, who wrap up their spring schedule with a matchup against the cross-Bay rival (for one more day, at least) N.Y. Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers walk off Tampa Bay Rays, 11-10, in finale: Game thread recap
