Was the Tigers defense undone by a Tropicana Field fan?

The Detroit Tigers have had all sorts of trouble dealing with the Rays domed roof. It’s understandable, anyone who has been to a game has had those moments where they can’t find a flyball or popup as the ball easily blends in with the white canopy of the dome.

However, Brad Ausmus isn’t attributing his team’s defensive struggles just to the roof! Nope, he is calling out a certain fan who yelled, “I got it!” loud enough from the blue seats to distract his players and cause them to, well, not get it.

Perhaps after a night of reflection and rest, Ausmus may have felt differently, but no, he still believes knows a fan is responsible.

Attendance for this game was 12,281.

I imagine Brad Ausmus never left the stadium last night, instead he went into his office, closed the door, shut the blinds and set up a bulletin board. On it he set up a seating chart of Tropicana Field and somehow got his hands on a manifesto of those in attendance and began to piece together the timeline of events.

In the first inning, the fan in question must have been visiting the Rays Tank, not to pet the stingrays though, but waiting for his moment to strike.

That moment came quickly as the first Rays hitter of the game, Corey Dickerson, lifted a lazy flyball to shallow center. At the moment, Ausmus heard a ringing in his ears as the ball fell between his confused fielders, unaware of who actually called the ball.

Ausmus put a pin on that moment and moved on.

The Tigers manager now focused on a similar moment just two innings later.

This time, Brad Miller lofted a popup to shallow center field. Veteran second baseman, Ian Kinsler, who has played in almost 40 games at the Trop seemed primed to make the routine catch...but at the last moment he veered off.

Ausmus then knew, there was something going on.

His players were among the best in the world and no way they could be have failed to make that catch by themselves, there were shenanigans at play here. There’s no possible way it was the convergence of three rookie outfielders ruining the plays.

Notably, that fan must have been active most of the night and roamed to any available seat, as the Tigers had trouble all over the spectrum.

The potent Detroit offense was no match for the Rays rookie pitcher, Austin Pruitt, who carved through their lineup. This couldn’t be the work of just excellent pitching, but more likely, it had to be with the help of the Fan who would tell the batters to swing at the wrong moment.

One also has to wonder if this Fan is also responsible for sweeping Iglesias’ leg last night as he tried to turn a game ending double play, but instead fell on his face.

These things just don’t happen, especially all in one night, without fan interference.

If anyone has information on this fan, please contact DRaysBay or Bless You Boys. We must know who caused the Detroit Tigers to be so laughably bad!