Devil Rays break late tie, top Tigers

Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Greg Vaughn's two-out single broke an eighth-inning tie and the young Tampa Bay Devil Rays went on to beat the Detroit Tigers 9-5 Tuesday night before a season-opening crowd of 38,142 at Tropicana Field.

Vaughn broke a 5-5 tie after loser Juan Acevedo walked Steve Cox intentionally to get to the Devil Rays' cleanup hitter.

Ben Grieve drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in another run and Bobby Smith added a two-run double that glanced off pitcher Danny Patterson's foot and rolled into shallow right field.

Victor Zambrano pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win, and Esteban Yan finished.

After becoming the first AL team to lose 100 games since the 1996 Tigers, Tampa Bay begins this season with the youngest (average age 27.51) and least experienced (average big league tenure 2.16 seasons) roster in the majors.