Martinez belts two homers to lead Tigers over Rays
By Greg Auman, The Sports Xchange
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Detroit Tigers didn't need to wait until the ninth inning to find their bats Friday as Victor Martinez crushed two three-run home runs and Cameron Maybin stepped up again in a 10-2 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Detroit starter Michael Fulmer (8-2) didn't need much support, holding the Rays to two hits in seven scoreless innings.
The Tigers (42-38) have won four straight, while the Rays (33-46) have now dropped 14 of 16 games, allowing five or more runs in 15 of those.
Martinez had six RBIs, with home runs in the seventh and ninth innings against a struggling Rays bullpen.
Maybin, who had two hits in an eight-run ninth inning Thursday, singled, stole second and scored Detroit's first run, drove in two more with a two-out single and walked to keep another inning alive for the other four runs.
He led off the ninth with a single and scored again on Martinez's home run.
The Rays spoiled the shutout in the ninth as Logan Forsythe singled and Brad Miller hit a two-run home run to left field -- his 11th of the season -- off reliever Mark Lowe.
Rays starter Drew Smyly (2-9) had his eighth straight start without earning a win, pitching 6 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits. Two of the runs were unearned and he struck out eight batters, but he didn't finish strong, walking his final two batters in the seventh and giving up a run on a wild pitch on his 121st pitch of the night.
The Rays bullpen didn't help again, as the first batter Danny Farquhar faced was Martinez, who hit a three-run home run -- his 15th this season -- to drive in both inherited runners.
The Rays have four outfielders sidelined with injuries, and fill-in Oswaldo Arcia, playing in his first week at Tropicana Field, misplayed two balls that led to two unearned runs scoring in the fifth inning.
Neither play was scored an error, but he missed on a diving catch to allow a single, then couldn't come up with another diving catch on a foul ball that could have ended the inning without any runs scoring.
Tampa Bay's bullpen issues got bad enough that manager Kevin Cash turned to versatile INF/OF Taylor Motter with two outs in the ninth, giving up a single before recording the out. He's the sixth position player in Rays' history to pitch, and the first since Jake Elmore and Nick Franklin did last June against the Nationals.
Fulmer dominated the Rays early, holding Tampa Bay to just one runner -- a second-inning single by Corey Dickerson -- in the first five innings. He followed Dickerson's hit by retiring the next 11 batters in order, and the Tigers' bats didn't have to wait until the ninth inning to show up, as they did Thursday night.
Smyly didn't allow a hit in the first three innings, but Maybin -- who had two hits in the ninth inning Thursday, including the game-winning three-run double -- got things started with a leadoff single. He stole second and scored on an RBI double by Nick Castellanos for a 1-0 lead.
Maybin got Smyly again in the fifth, coming up with two outs and runners at second and third and delivering a two-run single past the shortstop for a 3-0 lead, scoring Mike Aviles, who had reached on Brad Miller's 11th error of the season, and Jose Iglesias, who had singled.
NOTES: Lots of historical notes on the Tigers' rallying from a 7-2 deficit in the ninth Thursday for a 10-7 win over the Rays. The last time Detroit won on the road after being down five in the ninth? Per Elias, it hadn't happened since 1922, when Ty Cobb was on the roster. ... Thursday's loss clinched that the Rays will have a losing record at the All-Star break for only the second time in nine seasons. They were 46-45 at the break last year. ... Detroit C James McCann and Rays starter Drew Smyly were teammates in college at Arkansas -- when the two teams played each other in May, McCann hit the go-ahead home run off his fellow Razorback ... Rays OF Desmond Jennings, who left Thursday's game after one at-bat with a tight hamstring, was not in the starting lineup Friday. ... Rays OF Jaff Decker, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Durham.