St. Petersburg, Fla. — Don’t let the Tigers get hot.
Jake Rogers famously said that in August of 2024 and the Tigers got scorching hot. This isn’t that, but affter grinding through a miserable 6-22 month of May that cratered with three straight losses to the White Sox in Chicago, they came into Tropicana Field and swept a three-game series from the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
“It just feels good to come in and be aggressive,” said Rogers, who homered, singled, dropped a sacrifice bunt and shepherded Troy Melton through eight dominant innings in a 7-2 win in the finale Wednesday. “That was the mode of this series. We’d been playing timid. This team (the Tigers) has fun. This team is overly aggressive and it has a lot of fun.
“It was kind of the voice in the clubhouse to just go back to who we are and at least have fun while we’re doing it.”
It is a lot of fun when you’re knocking balls out of the park and scoring a bunch of runs. They scored 25 runs and hit 10 home runs in the series and never trailed in the series.
“We had a great series against a really good team in a place that’s tough to play in,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We did flip the calendar month and played three of our best games in a while. It’s not the only there games we played well this year. I know sometimes you can get dragged down by a tough stretch.
“We’re going to have a happy flight because we earned it.”
Theoffense stayed hot against one of the hottest pitchers in the league.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 7, Rays 2
Rays starter Nick Martinez hadn’t given up more than two runs in any of his 11 previous starts this season and came in with a 1.62 ERA.
The Tigers were unfazed. They collected three runs in the first three innings and proceeded to knock him out of the game after four innings, leaving him with a muddy six-spot on his previously pristine ledger.
As Rogers said, it was about time the Tigers became the punchers instead of the punching bag.
“Rough May, really rough,” he said. “I think the boys were down and out just looking for the next thing to happen to get us over the hump. But we kept getting punched, kept getting punched and we couldn’t get out of the hole. After those games, like it was really hard to go from one day to the next, but we always came in ready to play.
“It was never for a lack of effort.”
As has been the case in this series, Dillon Dingler threw the most dirt. He hit his third home run and produced his second four-RBI game.
He singled home Gleyber Torres in the first inning. Torres, who homered in his first at-bat Tuesday, started the game with a first-pitch double. Then Dingler stuck the dagger in the fourth with a two-out, three-run home run, a bullet into the seats in left.
Dingler leads American League catchers with 14 homers and 43 RBIs.
“It was just the quality of the at-bats,” Hinch said. “Even if we didn’t get the result, the quality of at-bats kept putting pressure on the other side. Multiple guys had really good days. And, yes, the big swings by Ding and Jake will get the headlines. But to piece the at-bats together like we did creates a team offense.”
Rogers homered off Martinez in the second inning, breaking a drought of 107 homer-less plate appearances dating to July 30, 2025.
“I didn’t even know,” he said. “I just know it’s been a long time since I felt that.”
He helped set up the three-run fourth inning, too, by dropping a sacrifice bunt, making him one of five Tigers in the last 15 years to hit a homer and have a sac bunt in the same game. The others: Alex Avila and Don Kelly in 2011, Andy Dirks in 2012 and Akil Baddoo in 2023.
“Obviously, Ding is playing really well, so when I get my chance to give him a day off catching, I have to make the most of it,” Rogers said. “Just be as good a player as I can be. That felt good. It was nice to finally catch a barrel and get a homer.”
The run support was appreciated by Melton, who righted himself quickly after a wobbly start before seizing control of the Rays’ hitters for eight innings.
“Troy was tremendous,” Hinch said. “Those last five innings he just pounded the strike zone…They were obviously swinging early which made him not just throw strikes but make pitches. Jake did a good job adjusting on a couple of hitters and helped create a dominant performance.”
Melton gave up single runs in each of the first two innings, including a solo homer to Cedric Mullins. He was falling behind hitters, especially in the first inning when he gave up an RBI single to Yandy Diaz after a single and walk.
But something clicked. After walking Jonathan Aranda to lead off the third inning, he got Diaz to hit into a double play and then set down the next 17 hitters, completing eight full innings for the first time in his career.
“(Throwing strikes) is the foundation of how I pitch; I like to think I’m good at it,” Melton said. “But obviously, that first inning I was like 0-for-6 on first-pitch strikes. Getting back in the zone early in counts was the whole focus the rest of the game and that ended up leading to much better results.”
His efficiency was remarkable. He needed just 24 pitches to traverse the fourth through the seventh innings. He faced the minimum through the final five innings.
“It was just getting back to my foundation,” Melton said. “There wasn’t any hard reset, but it was good.”
It was his cutter that seemed to calm him down and get him back in the zone.
“I didn’t use the cutter much early,” Rogers said. “And he was spraying the heater around. We found the cutter and he was throwing it for strikes and was dotting it up pretty good. It felt like that was the pitch that got him back in the zone.”
Melton struck out five and got nine ground ball outs. The 22 balls put in play by the Rays had an average exit velocity of 86.9 mph.
“When I’m going right, that’s how I always feel,” he said of the quick, low-pitch innings. “But it was nice to have a result like that, for sure. It’s good to be good.”
Put that slogan on a t-shirt. It’s good to be good.
“We know we’re a good team,” Melton said. “Obviously, the results haven’t been there the last month but we turned a new page in June and the results are starting to show out. The preparation and the work from everyone has been great the whole time. Whoever we play against, we know we have a good chance to win.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers sweep Rays to put miserable May in rearview
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
