ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Isaac Paredes homered twice against his former teammates to double his career big league total, helping the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 Wednesday on an afternon Eduardo Rodriguez did not make it out of the first inning.
Rodriguez (1-3) lasted just one out and averaged 91.9 mph for his fastball, 2.4 mph below his season average, and left the mound with Tigers head athletic trainer Doug Teter. Rodriguez allowed three runs, four hits and two walks, throwing just 11 of 23 pitches for strikes. After signing a $77 million, five-year contract, he has a 4.38 ERA.
Drew Rasmussen (4-1) allowed four hits in five shutout innings with seven strikeouts and no walks, improving to 4-0 with a 1.01 ERA in his last five starts. Matt Wisler, Colin Poche and J.P. Feyereisen finished, with Feyereisen striking out two in the ninth during his 15th straight scoreless appearance.
Paredes, traded by the Tigers for Austin Meadows on April 5, hit solo home runs in the third off Rony García and in the eighth against Wily Peralta. Paredes hit one home run each in 2020 and 2021.
Yandy Díaz had three of the 11 hits by the Rays, who won for the fifth time in seven games.
Spencer Torkelson homered in the seventh off Wisler and has a team-high four home runs for the Tigers, who have hit a major league-low 20 homers in 38 games.
Tampa Bay’s first five batters reached. Díaz, Wander Franco and Harold Ramírez loaded the bases with singles, Randy Arozarena walked on four pitches and Francisco Mejía hit a two-run single for a 3-0 lead.. After another walk, Rodriguez was replaced by García.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Jose Cisnero, on the 60-day IL all season with a right shoulder strain, is scheduled for a bullpen session this week.
Rays: RHP Phoenix Sanders (low back spasms) was reinstated from the 15-day IL and optioned to Triple-A Durham.
UP NEXT
Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal (3-2, 2.50) will try to win his third straight start in Friday’s opener of a three-game series at Cleveland.
Rays: LHP Ryan Yarbrough (0-0, 4.91) will make his fourth start of the season Friday night at Baltimore.
