ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay’s Jeffrey Springs was pulled after six hitless innings, Riley Greene got Detroit’s first hit with an infield single off Colin Poche in the seventh and the Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 on Sunday to complete an opening three-game sweep.
Springs (1-0) struck out a career-high 12 and matched his high of six innings, He threw 58 of 81 pitches for strikes.
“Sometimes we’ve got to protect them from themselves,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the pitching change. “Totally respect the magnitude of throwing six no hit-innings … Kind of gut-wrenching. I apologized to him but I felt like sometimes we’ve just got to make some decisions that are best for the team.”
Springs did not argue to stay in.
“Obviously as a competitor you want to pitch but it’s not my job to look ahead and manage and all that,” Springs said. “I’m going to go out there until he takes the ball. I trust him 100 percent.”
Outscored 21-3 in the series, Detroit had just one runner against Springs: Nick Maton drew a two-out walk in the second.
“It’s a bad weekend,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve got to do a lot better in a lot of areas.”
Greene hit a grounder leading off the seventh that first baseman Luke Raley fielded near the outfield grass, and Greene beat Raley’s toss to Poche at first. Poche’s follow-through had him turnng his back toward the plate, impacting his dash to first base.
“Poche, generally, is not going to beat a guy like Riley Greene getting down the line,” Cash said. “It was unfortunate that it happened that way. It was a clear hit.”