RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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DETROIT — Another day ... another day closer to it being over.
The Tigers lost to the Tampa Bay Rays , 4-1, on Monday, April 24, in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. The Tigers now have lost six straight, and nine of their last 10.
The Rays got to Tigers starter Framber Valdez (8-9) right away in the first inning, when the first two hitters, Yandy DIaz and former Tiger Ryan Vilade, reached on sharp singles. They both scored on groundouts.
The Rays made it 3-0 in the fourth after Jorge Mateo led off with a double, was bunted over to third by Nick Fortes, and then came in on a squeeze bunt by Chandler Simpson.
The Tigers got on the board in the fourth inning, when Kevin McGonigle laced a one-out double — his 138th hit of the season, tying him for eighth most in a rookie season in franchise history with Lou Whitaker (1978) and Nick Castellanos (2014). After a Dillon Dingler single move him to third, he scored on Brett Callahan's sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-1.
But the Rays got that run back in the sixth inning on a leadoff home run by Aranda, his 16th of the season — a towering drive over Zach McKinstry's head in right-center, bringing boos from the crowd of 23,265.
Valdez grinded through six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He walked two and didn't strike out a batter. It's the first time as a Tiger he didn't strike out a single batter. He even had one July 21, when he lasted two-thirds of an inning in his start against the Chicago Cubs .
BOX SCORE: Rays 4, Tigers 1
It was just the second start of Valdez's career without a strikeout. The other was July 11, 2019, when he lasted two-thirds of an inning in a start for the Houston Astros . Monday was his 192nd start in the major leagues. Wilder still, Valdez didn't even record a single swing-and-miss Monday.
More balls seemed to end up in the glove of McGonigle at third base than Dingler behind the plate. Of the Rays' 27 outs, McGonigle had a hand in 12 of them, including a sensational dive-and-throw in the second inning .
Meanwhile, Rays starter Drew Rasmussen (14-5) allowed a run on three hits in six innings, striking out five and walking nobody. The Tigers wore their Motor City Connect jerseys, but they did very little connecting at the plate.
At least Spencer Torkelson broke an 0-for-25 skid with a leadoff double in the eighth. Rays reliever Manuel Rodriguez then struck out Max Clark and Javier Báez, before Colt Keith worked a walk. That brought up Hao-Yu Lee as the potential tying run, but he struck out swinging at a 3-2, 96-mph sinker to end the mini-threat.
Monday was the third time in the last six games the Tigers have scored a single run.
More: Wow! Watch Tigers' Kevin McGonigle make another amazing defensive play
Where are the Detroit Tigers in the playoff race?
The Tigers began Monday seven games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central and 3.5 games out of the final AL wild-card spot, with six games between them and the final spot. After Monday, the Tigers have 31 games remaining in the regular season.
When do the Detroit Tigers play next?
The Detroit Tigers (61-70) and Tampa Bay Rays (78-53) continue their three-game series at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at Comerica Park. The game will be on DetroitSportsNet and 97.1 The Ticket.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers bring horror show back home, lose sixth game in a row
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