Curtis Mead, Randy Arozarena homer as Rays battle back to beat Tigers, 7-5

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Curtis Mead’s first extra-base hit of the season was huge for himself and his team.

The rookie second baseman, who had been scuffling all season, crushed a two-run homer as part of a three-run sixth as the Rays battled back to beat the Tigers, 7-5, Wednesday in front of an announced 13,754 at Tropicana Field.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rays and prevented the Tigers from sweeping the three-game series. With wins in the first two games, Detroit won a series at the Trop for the first time since 2016.

The Tigers erased an early 4-1 deficit with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Buddy Kennedy singled home Matt Vierling to tie the game in the sixth, and Javier Baez followed with an RBI double to center to give Detroit its first lead, 5-4.

The Rays reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning.

Isaac Paredes doubled to left and moved to third on an Amed Rosario groundout. After Harold Ramirez struck out, Ben Rortvedt singled to left to score Paredes. That brought up Mead, who homered to left to put Tampa Bay back in front, 7-5.

Mead’s first home run of the season and second of his career gave him and the Rays a much-needed boost.

Mead, who entered the game with a .226 slugging percentage, changed his approach at the plate about a week ago, manager Kevin Cash said.

“He got a little less worried about swinging and missing, and the intent to drive the ball and impact the baseball has been there,” Cash said. “He’s hit some balls hard right now. He’s super aggressive, but if he’s getting pitched in the zone, we want to see him swinging. You just want to see some balls start to fall or start to land over the wall.”

Mead’s home run dropped over the left-field wall after traveling just 327 feet. It would not have been a home run at any other MLB park.

Randy Arozarena gave the Rays an early lead with a first-inning home run to center field.

It snapped a stretch of 86 plate appearances without a home run. He hit two in the first series of the season March 30 and 31 against the Blue Jays and then went into an April funk.

Arozarena had been on pace for the worst month of his career. In 20 April games, he was hitting .117 with a .130 slugging percentage and .320 OPS. He had just one extra-base hit, a double and 23 strikeouts.

“There’s some mechanical things we’ve showed him over the last couple days behind the scenes, and he’s getting better at it,” hitting coach Chad Mottola said. “But it’s one of those things that he has done it for a while, so it’s going to take a little longer to get out of it. But we at least have identified the problem and are moving forward.”

Arozarena’s swing looked just fine when he turned on an 85-mph slider from Jack Flaherty that hung over the middle of the plate and pulled it for his third home run of the season. The ball came off his bat at 105 mph and went several rows into the left-field seats, covering a distance of 397 feet.

Rortvedt doubled in a run to start a three-run second that gave the Rays their early 4-1 lead. Jose Caballero and Yandy Diaz added run-scoring singles in the inning.