A Devil of a Time for the ‘Rays

It took two decades for Tampa Bay to get a major league team. It will take at least one more day to get a win.

Playing like the expansion team they are, the Devil Rays fell flat in their first game, losing to the Detroit Tigers, 11-6, Tuesday.

“There was a lot going on, but we’re not going to make excuses,” Tampa Bay’s Larry Rothschild said after his debut as a major league manager. “We just got beat.”

Joe Randa and Joe Oliver each drove in three runs and Luis Gonzalez hit a two-run homer as the Tigers ruined the day for a sellout crowd of 45,369 at Tropicana Field.

Wade Boggs’ two-run homer off winner Justin Thompson in the sixth inning was about all Devil Rays’ fans had to cheer for after an hourlong pregame celebration of baseball’s arrival on Florida’s west coast.

Tampa Bay trailed, 11-0, after five innings. It was 11-2 when a four-run rally in the ninth made the game look closer than it really was.

“You try to take something positive out of each game, and the way we came back was it today,” Rothschild said.

The Tampa Bay area made seven unsuccessful bids to land a team before Devil Ray managing general partner Vince Naimoli was awarded an expansion franchise in March 1995.

Left-hander Wilson Alvarez threw the first pitch in team history, more than 20 years after a committee was formed to pursue major league baseball for the region. The $35-million cornerstone of the Devil Ray pitching staff retired the Tigers in order in the first inning.

But little went right for Tampa Bay after that.

Detroit began the second inning with five consecutive hits, loading the bases on singles by Tony Clark, Damion Easley and Gonzalez. Randa followed with a double and Oliver singled, with each driving in two runs.

Randa and Oliver also drove in runs in the third to chase Alvarez, who gave up six runs and nine hits in 2 1/2 innings. Gonzalez hit the first home run at Tropicana Field during the Tigers’ five-run fifth.

“I let the people down, but this is part of the game,” a disappointed Alvarez said. “I’m not perfect. I’m human. . . . I have to forget about it and try next time.”

Randa, Gonzalez and Easley each had three of Detroit’s 18 hits. Brian Hunter had a two-run double to back Thompson, who gave up eight hits in six innings.

“It’s a real positive note to start on,” Thompson, a 15-game winner last season who had arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow in October. “Spring training was a little slow for me. But at the end, I started feeling real strong. I came into tonight on a 90-pitch limit, and I think I threw 85.”

For the Devils Rays in the ninth, Quinton McCracken and Rich Butler had RBI singles, Boggs walked with the bases loaded and another run scored on pitcher Doug Bochtler’s error.

Though the loss was disappointing for Tampa Bay, what seemed to matter more to the crowd was that baseball finally arrived in St. Petersburg.

Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Monte Irvin and Al Lopez simultaneously threw out the first balls.