 on shortstop Gordon Beckham's throwing error and went to second when Willy Adames walked.The Rays loaded the bases on Mike Brosseau's one-out infield single before Choi singled to center.Tommy Pham hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Buck Farmer that pulled the Rays within 4-3.Tampa Bay pitchers set a three-game series team record by recording 49 strikeouts, including 12 on Sunday.Houston holds the major league record of 52, coming against Baltimore May 24-26, 2016.Matthew Boyd struck out nine over seven strong innings and Harold Castro homered and had three RBIs for the Tigers, who have a major league-worst 37-84 record.Boyd allowed one run, two hits and two walks. The lefty has 201 strikeouts in 153 innings.Castro hit a two-run shot during the first and had a sacrifice fly during a two-run seventh.Victor Reyes got the Tigers' first walk of the series leading off the first against Trevor Richards and scored on Castro's homer.Detroit finished with three walks, with two coming in the ninth off Jose Alvarado (1-5).After Reyes had an RBI double, Castro's sac fly in the seventh put the Tigers ahead 4-1.Richards allowed two runs, eight hits and struck out six over 3 1/3 innings in his Tampa Bay debut. The right-hander, acquired from Miami on July 31, went 3-12 for the Marlins in 23 games, including 20 starts.GETTING A BREAKTigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, hitless in nine at-bats with seven strikeouts in the first two games of the series, got the day off.MOVING AROUND THE DIAMONDd'Arnaud made his 15th start at first base and also took grounders at third base before the game. He has started 39 times behind the plate.TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: OF Christin Stewart (concussion), C Grayson Greiner (lower back strain) and 1B Jeimer Candelario (sprained left thumb) were all in the Triple-A Toledo lineup for the second consecutive day.Rays: RHP Tyler Glasnow, who went 6-1 before being sidelined by a right forearm strain in mid-May, will have his first bullpen session Monday. ... OF Avisail Garcia (right oblique strain) could be back in the next seven to 10 days.UP NEXTTigers: RHP Edwin Jackson (3-5), a 17-year veteran, looks to win his third consecutive start since joining Detroit on Monday night at Houston. The AL West-leading Astros will counter with LHP Wade Miley (11-4).Rays: LHP Brendan McKay (2-2) will go against Seattle LHP Marco Gonzalez (12-10) on Monday night.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Tigers' Boyd looks to right ship vs. RaysFLMMatthew Boyd emerged as the Detroit Tigers' ace early this season, but he hasn't pitched like one lately.Boyd will try to get back in a groove at Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla., in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday.He's been grooving a lot of fastballs this month, allowing eight home runs in three starts. He's been tagged for 23 long balls since the beginning of June, compared to seven in the first two months of the season.In his last outing on Tuesday, Boyd twice gave up back-to-back homers to Kyle Seager and Tom Murphy in an 11-6 loss to Seattle."I take full responsibility for this loss," he said to the Detroit News afterward. "It's on me. I've got to be better, especially lately. A few bad pitches, and they happen to be home runs. I want a few of them back, for sure." There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with Boyd physically. He's just not getting away with mistakes."There's also been three or four starts in there where (home runs) weren't an issue," Boyd said. "It just ebbs and flows. The last three starts I've been battling a little adjustment and it was better (Tuesday) -- just the times it wasn't came back to bite me. You understand why it's happening. But if you look at a grouping of starts and say this is where it started happening, that's kind of short-sighted in my opinion. Each outing is a little different." The bottom line is all that matters, and Boyd (6-9, 4.38 ERA) believes he'll turn things around quickly. He's made three starts against Tampa Bay in his career, going 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA."I have complete confidence, I know I am going to get better from this going forward," Boyd said. "Over the next five days, I will make the adjustments like I need to. I never guarantee success, but I know I will put myself in the best position to be the best pitcher I can be." Tampa Bay is expected to call up right-hander Trevor Richards from Triple-A Durham to take the ball Sunday, with righty Peter Fairbanks optioned to Durham.Richards (3-12, 4.50 ERA) was acquired from the Miami Marlins before the trade deadline and will make his Rays debut. He has faced the Tigers once in his career, allowing one run on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision on May 23.Runs have been hard to come by in the series. Detroit won the opener 2-0, and Tampa Bay captured the middle game 1-0 in 13 innings. The Rays had gone scoreless for 29 consecutive innings before their walk-off victory.The Rays have been surprisingly average at Tropicana Field this season, posting a 32-29 mark. They're firmly in the playoff hunt thanks to a 40-23 road record, best in the majors."I know we're going to talk about (the home record) until we get on a run here," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I don't have a good answer for you. For any of it, really. ... I do know we have to play better at home." --Field Level Media
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