DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:
TIGERS SHUT OUT ON OPENING DAY: The Tigers lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-0, on Opening Day on Thursday. It marked the first time Detroit has been blanked in the season opener since 1989. Austin Meadows had three hits, including a double, while Javier Báez, Miguel Cabrera and Riley Greene each had one hit. Eduardo Rodriguez started for Detroit and took the loss, giving up three runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Chasen Shreve struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning in relief.
AUSTIN’S POWERS: Austin Meadows started the season strong on Thursday, recording three hits, including a double. It marked his 23rd career game with three-or-more hits and he became the first Tiger to have three hits on Opening Day since Ian Kinsler on April 5, 2016 at Miami. Meadows is enjoying a homecoming this weekend as he played for the Rays from 2018-21, playing in 326 games and hitting .256/.334/.492 with 67 doubles, 11 triples, 65 home runs and 212 RBI.
MOVIN’ ON UP: Miguel Cabrera played in his 20th career Opening Day game on Thursday, finishing the contest 1×4 with a double. The hit was the 3,089th of his Major League career, tying him with Ichiro Suzuki for 23rd on the MLB all-time hits list. Dave Winfield is next up on the list, ranking 22nd with 3,110 career hits.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW: Mason Englert made his Major League debut on Opening Day, throwing the eighth inning. After allowing a leadoff homer to Wander Franco, Englert settled down and retired the next three batters. He was selected by the Tigers in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft last December. Prior to this season, Englert had started 43 games in the Minors, including only three starts above High A.
NOTES ON THE SEASON OPENING ROSTER:
Information about Detroit’s 26-man, season-opening roster:
- The roster consists of 13 pitchers (Tyler Alexander, Matthew Boyd, José Cisnero, Mason Englert, Jason Foley, Garrett Hill, Alex Lange, Matt Manning, Eduardo Rodriguez, Chasen Shreve, Spencer Turnbull, Joey Wentz, Trey Wingenter and 13 position players (Javier Báez, Miguel Cabrera, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Eric Haase, Ryan Kreidler, Nick Maton, Zach McKinstry, Austin Meadows, Jake Rogers, Jonathan Schoop, Spencer Torkelson, Matt Vierling)
- 8 are on an Opening Day roster at the Major League level for the first time (Carpenter, Englert, Greene, Hill, Kreidler, Maton, Rogers, Wentz)
- 9 were not active with the team in 2022 (Boyd, Englert, Maton, McKinstry, Rogers, Shreve, Turnbull, Vierling, Wingenter)
- 15 have less than three years of Major League service (Carpenter, Englert, Foley, Greene, Haase, Hill, Kreidler, Lange, Manning, Maton, McKinstry, Rogers, Torkelson, Vierling, Wentz – 6 have five-or-more years of Major League service (Báez, Boyd, Cabrera, Cisnero, Rodriguez, Schoop
- 4 have been selected All-Stars (Báez, Cabrera, Meadows, Schoop)
TIGERS AND RAYS: The Tigers and Rays continue their six-game season series this afternoon. The two teams will also play a three-game series
at Comerica Park from August 4-6. Tampa Bay won five of the seven meetings from Detroit last season, including two of the three games at Tropicana Field. The all-time series has been evenly contested with the Rays holding an 86-84 edge, including a 46-40 advantage at Tropicana
Field.
INJURY REHAB UPDATE: Tyler Nevin began an injury rehab assignment with Triple A Toledo yesterday, starting at first base and going 3×3 with a run scored, a triple and a RBI. Nevin is currently on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
TIGERS ON THE IL:
• RHP Beau Brieske (right upper arm discomfort, 15-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)
• RHP Michael Lorenzen (left groin strain, 15- day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)
• RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
• INF Tyler Nevin (left oblique strain, 10-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)
• RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60- day IL on March 27)
• LHP Tarik Skubal (left elbow strain, 60-day IL on March 14)
UPCOMING MATCHUPS:
• Sunday, April 2 at TB – 1:10 p.m. (BSDET/97.1)
LHP Joey Wentz (No Record) vs.
LHP Jeffrey Springs (No Record)
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER
Spencer Turnbull • 0-0, 0.00 ERA (0IP/0ER)
• Turnbull will make his first start of the season today against the Rays…will mark his first start in the Majors since June 4, 2021 after missing the second half of 2021 and all of 2022 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
• Started four games during Spring Training and had a 0-1 record with a 4.50 ERA (12.0IP/6ER) and 12 strikeouts.
• Has faced the Rays just once in his career on June 5, 2019, taking the loss after giving up three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 5.0 innings…today will mark his first career outing at Tropicana Field.
• Made nine starts in 2021 and went 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA (50.0IP/16ER) and 44 strikeouts…limited opponents to a 0.98 WHIP and a .203 batting average.
• Threw the eighth no-hitter in Tigers history on May 18, 2021 at Seattle, striking out nine and walking two…was the first no-hitter by a Tigers pitcher since Justin Verlander on May 7, 2011 at Toronto.
TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES:
FIRST THINGS FIRST—The Rays improved to 14-12 all-time on Opening Day, having won three straight and five of their last seven season-opening contests…after Thursday’s 4-0 win, Tampa Bay is 2-1 against Detroit on Opening Day, including a 9-5 win on 4/2/02 and an 11-6 loss in the club’s inaugural game on 3/31/98.
VS. DETROIT—Last season, Tampa Bay went 5-2 vs. Detroit, its most victories over the Tigers since 2017 (5-2)…the Rays are 13-4 (.765) at home against the Tigers since the beginning of the 2017 season, outscoring Detroit 81-45 (+36) over that stretch.
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS—Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the Rays are 265-170 (.609) in home games, the fourth-best home winning percentage in the majors, trailing only Los Angeles-NL (298-140, .680), New York-AL (287-150, .657) and Houston (281-154, .646).
PITCHERS’ PARADISE—The 2022 Rays pitched to a 3.41 ERA, fourth in the majors behind Los Angeles-NL (2.80), Houston (2.90) and New York-AL (3.30), and second in club history behind the 2012 Rays (3.19)…Tampa Bay finished among the majors’ top 10 in ERA for a sixth-straight season and among the majors’ top five for a fourth-straight season.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS—Tampa Bay has reached the postseason in a franchise-best four straight seasons and in eight of the last 15 seasons since 2008…only four other clubs have reached the postseason as often since 2008: Los Angeles-NL (12), New York-NL (11), St. Louis (10) and Atlanta (8)…the Rays are one of three AL teams (Astros, Yankees) and one of six in the majors (Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers) to make the postseason in each of the last four seasons (2019-22).
REBRANDING—Since becoming the Rays in 2008, the club owns the fourth-best record in baseball at 1,268-1,062 (.544), including two World Series appearances (2020, 2008)… this success comes after the Devil Rays amassed the majors’ worst record at 645-972 (.399) over the club’s first decade of existence (1998-2007).
MANAGER—Kevin Cash enters his ninth season as the manager of the Rays…his career 642-554 (.536) record is the best winning percentage of any manager in club history… he is 114 wins shy of matching Joe Madden for the most managerial wins in franchise history…Cash is the second-longest-tenured manager with his current team behind Cleveland’s Terry Francona (11th season)…three other current managers are former members of his coaching staff: Rocco Baldelli (Twins), Derek Shelton (Pirates) and Matt Quatraro (Royals).
TODAY’S STARTER: RHP ZACH EFLIN (0-0, -.–)
WELCOME TO TAMPA BAY—An Orlando, Fla. native, Eflin joined the Rays during the 2022-23 offseason after signing the largest free-agent contract in club history, a three-year, $40 million deal, surpassing Wilson Álavrez’s five-year, $35 million pact…has spent the entirety of his seven-year career with Philadelphia, spanning 127 games (115 starts)…in 20 appearances (13 starts) last season with the Phillies, Eflin went 3-5 with 4.04 ERA (75.2IP, 34ER), collecting 65 strikeouts against 15 walks.
SPRINGING INTO ACTION—Made three Spring Training starts for the Rays, recording a 6.23 ERA (8.2IP, 6ER)…produced a 3.38 ERA (5.1IP, 2ER) over his first two outings opposite Minnesota before being tagged for 4 runs in 3.1 IP in his final start on March 20 at Atlanta…did not walk a batter in any of his spring appearances.
2022 RUNDOWN—Began the season in the Phillies rotation, going 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA (68.0IP, 33ER) over 13 starts before a right knee bruise sidelined him from 6/26-9/12…made seven relief appearances after being reinstated, pitching to a 1.17 ERA (7.2IP, 1ER)…tossed a perfect ninth inning in Philadelphia’s playoff-clinching win on 10/3 at Houston, becoming the third pitcher since saves became an official stat (1969) to record his first career save on the same day his club clinched a playoff berth (also: LAD Orel Hershiser on 9/30/83 vs. SF; BAL Dave Leonhard on 9/13/69 vs. CLE).
Fanned a career-high 12 batters on 5/22 at Los Angeles-NL, the second double-digit strikeout game of his career (also: 10SO on 8/12/20 vs. BAL).
Issued two or fewer walks in 33 straight starts from 8/29/20-6/3/22, the third-longest streak by a Phillie since Baseball Reference data is available (1901), behind Robin Roberts (36GS, 1960-61) and Roy Halladay (35GS, 2010-111)
ON THE BIG STAGE—Pitched in the postseason for the first time in his career during Philadelphia’s run to Game 6 of the 2022 World Series…
turned in a 3.38 ERA (10.2IP, 4ER) and did not record a decision over 10 appearances out of the bullpen, including seven straight scoreless outings (7.2IP) to conclude the postseason.
Earned his first career postseason save in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series at STL, working a scoreless 9th inning.
Made 4 scoreless appearances in the World Series against HOU, yielding only 4 hits in 4.1 IP.
TIGER TALK—Today marks Eflin’s first career appearance opposite Detroit… following today’s start, the righty will have faced 28 of the 30 major league clubs — he has yet to pitch against Cleveland and Philadelphia.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE—Has posted a 2-0 mark with a 0.50 ERA (18.0IP, 1ER) over three career appearances (two starts) against AL Central foes, all of which came during the 2019 campaign…turned in his fourth career complete game on 5/11/19 at Kansas City, yielding only four hits without issuing a walk (9.0IP, 4H, 7SO).
