Cron Caps Rays Sweep Of Tigers

ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- C.J. Cron's three-run homer off Jordan Zimmermann rallied the Tampa Bay Rays from a 2-1 deficit and finished off a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-2 victory in Wednesday's finale at Tropicana Field.

The two sides traded zeroes for the first couple of innings, but Kevin Kiermaier opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, when he took a 2-2 pitch from Jordan Zimmermann and sent it into the seats in right for his second home run of the year and a 1-0 lead.

The advantage would not last, as Matt Andriese, who came on for Hunter Wood starting in the second, allowed a one-out bunt single in the fourth to former Ray Mikie Mahtook, followed by a two-run homer to catcher James McCann that gave the Tigers a 2-1 advantage.

Tampa Bay left runners on in both the fifth and sixth against Zimmermann (4-1) before finally breaking through again in the seventh, as Kiermaier and Matt Duffy each reached on one-out base hits.  Jake Bauers popped out for thse second out of the inning, but Cron picked up his teammate by unloading for his 18th home run of the season, turning the deficit into a two-run lead.

Ryan Yarbrough picked up his eighth win with three innings of one-hit relief, while Diego Castillo worked a scoreless eighth with some help from Mallex Smith's diving catch to end the frame, and Sergio Romo followed with a perfect ninth to nail down his 11th save of the year.

The victory is Tampa Bay's fifth in a row and 14th in their last 15 home games, and moves the team to a season-best four games over .500 at 48-44.

THURSDAY'S MATCHUP

Tampa Bay Rays (48-44) at Minnesota Twins (40-49), 8:10 p.m. first pitch, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 7:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Crown Eurocars.

Rays starter - LHP Blake Snell (12-4, 2.09 ERA) 

Twins starter - RHP Kyke Gibson (3-6, 3.59 ERA)


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