Who should represent Detroit Tigers in MLB All-Star game?
The “Days of Roar” podcast debates which players from the Detroit Tigers should make an appearance in the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, set for July 15.
- The Detroit Tigers lost, 14-8, to the Tampa Bay Rays in the series opener on Friday, June 20.
- Starter Jack Flaherty allowed eight earned runs and recorded just one out in the third inning for the Tigers.
- Riley Greene homered twice and added a double in front of his parents near his Florida hometown.
TAMPA, FL — Right-hander Jack Flaherty surrendered seven runs in his June 14 start against the Cincinnati Reds, the most in his two-year tenure with the Detroit Tigers.
It couldn’t get any worse, right?
Wrong.
In his next start, Flaherty allowed eight runs in the Tigers’ 14-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, June 20, at George M. Steinbrenner Field — in the first of three games in the series. It marked his worst performance since May 4, 2023 (as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals), when he gave up 10 runs.
The Tigers (48-29) pulled Flaherty with one out in the third inning.
He has a 4.83 ERA in 15 starts.
With 15 starts, Flaherty — making $25 million in 2025 — increased his 2026 salary from $10 million to $20 million. The 29-year-old has an opt-out clause after this season, however.
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The Rays scored four runs in each of the first and third innings, with Flaherty throwing 32 pitches in the first and 29 pitches in the third en route to 74 pitches total.
In the first, Yandy Díaz provided a 1-0 lead by hitting a leadoff home run.
What happened within that matchup was concerning: After Flaherty fell behind 3-0 in the count, he threw three consecutive four-seam fastballs — all located down and away on the corner of the strike zone. After Díaz watched the first two for called strikes, he punished the third one for a no-doubt home run.
The Rays extended their lead to 4-0 with an RBI single from Curtis Mead and a two-RBI double from Matt Thaiss, capping the fast start in the first inning.
In the third, Flaherty recorded the first out on one pitch. He suddenly loaded the bases with a single and two walks. The Rays made him pay for the walks, as Taylor Walls cleared the bases with a double off Flaherty’s fastball to left-center field, then advanced to third base on a throwing error.
The double put the Rays ahead, 7-3.
And it ended Flaherty’s day.
But the Rays added one more run to Flaherty’s final line, as Kameron Misner dropped down a perfect bunt against left-handed reliever Matt Gage, scoring Walls from third base. The bunt — a shrewd decision — increased the Rays’ lead to 8-3.
In his 15th start, Flaherty allowed eight runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts across 2⅓ innings. He is responsible for 15 runs over seven innings in his last two starts, tallying eight walks and eight strikeouts.
Before that, Flaherty had a 1.78 ERA over five starts, from May 16-June 8.
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Riley Greene hits 16th, 17th home runs
Colt Keith failed to get a hit out of the leadoff spot until the ninth inning. Kerry Carpenter wasted five plate appearances with two strikeouts. Spencer Torkelson made hard contact, but he didn’t get the expected results.
Without them, Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene continued to carry the Tigers offensively. They’re the only players from Friday’s lineup who finished the night with at least an .800 OPS this season.
Greene stepped up in the third inning. He demolished a changeup from right-hander Shane Baz for a three-run home run to center field, doing so with two outs. He drove the ball 432 feet with a 108.1 mph exit velocity.
The home run from Greene trimmed the Tigers’ deficit to 4-3, but the Tigers didn’t score again until the sixth inning, when Parker Meadows’ RBI double and Javier Báez’s sacrifice fly made it 9-5.
In the eighth, Greene demolished a hanging slider from right-handed reliever Eric Orze for a solo home run, but the Tigers still trailed, 11-6. It marked the sixth multi-homer game of his career — and his third of the season.
Greene has 17 homers in 75 games.
Keith hit a two-run home run off Orze in the ninth inning, making it 14-8.
Greene finished 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs and one walk, while Torres had a single and two walks. In his past nine games, Carpenter is hitting .038 (1-for-26) with zero walks and nine strikeouts in 29 plate appearances.
Rays keep scoring
It was a two-homer game for Díaz.
In the fifth inning, he tagged a middle-away sinker from right-handed reliever Chase Lee for a solo home run to right field, extending the Rays’ margin to 9-3.
Right-handed reliever Carlos Hernández, claimed by the Tigers off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies recently, recorded back-to-back outs in the sixth inning, then fell apart.
A walk to Mead came back to haunt him.
From there, Josh Lowe’s RBI double and Thaiss’ RBI single tacked on two runs for the Rays, making it 11-5.
A defensive error from the Tigers in the eighth inning summed up the game, as two runs scored on Thaiss’ ground-ball single into right field against right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee. It should’ve been one run, but the ball rolled underneath the glove of Carpenter and traveled all the way to the wall.
An ensuing single from Misner pushed the Rays’ lead to 14-6 in the three-run eighth.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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