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Tigers steal thunder in dome By RICK STROUD © St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 1998 T. PETERSBURG -- They enjoyed the sellout crowd, the new ballpark. And they generally dug being part of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' first game. But the Tigers weren't about to go into the tank. Not for an expansion franchise on Opening Day. In fact, Detroit threw itself an inaugural ball, routing the Devil Rays 11-6 at Tropicana Field. "It was exciting. Obviously, the fans here are excited about their team, and they have a right to be," Tigers third baseman Joe Randa said. "It was fun. Anybody would be lying if they said it wasn't fun. "It was exciting for the fans here, but it was exciting for us to be a part of the whole thing. There's going to be a lot of history made here, and we are part of it tonight." Nobody had a bigger game for the Tigers than Luis Gonzalez, who became the first player to hit a home run that counted at Tropicana Field. Being from Tampa, Gonzalez was, in a sense, the only Tigers player in position to drive himself home. Gonzalez, who attended Jefferson High, had 12 relatives in attendance. His fifth-inning home run, which curled around the rightfield foul pole, landed in the section of seats he had bought for his family. "Apparently his family was sitting right behind the foul pole there," Tigers manager Buddy Bell said. "So that was kind of nice. It's good for your heart to see somebody like that have a good game who's from this area." The Tigers tagged Tampa Bay pitchers for 18 hits, including five straight in the four-run second inning off starter Wilson Alvarez. Their 11 runs tied for the second-most on Opening Day in the club's history. Randa, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, said Tropicana Field is going to be friendly to hitters and puzzling to outfielders. "It's going to play small," Randa said. "Gap to gap, I think the outfielders are going to have to play deep because the ball carries out there, which is going to cause problems for balls that are going to drop in front. "And there's a lot of action on that turf. You're going to see a lot of line drives that are going to bounce over outfielders' heads. It's going to be offensively friendly. "I think you saw that tonight there were a lot of balls drop in front of outfielders that were softly hit. You either play back because the ball can jump a little bit, or you play in and it's over your head." Tigers designated hitter Bip Roberts agreed. "It's going to be a shootout here. The team that pretty much comes up and hits last is going to win most of the time." That would be good news for the Devil Rays, who rallied with four runs in the ninth. "Obviously, the second inning was a big inning for us," Bell said. "Especially being the first game of the year. The hits were falling. We didn't hit everything hard, but we got some really good at-bats. "The Rays kept plugging away and made it a little interesting in the end. You never know with this game." Bell dismissed the notion that pitching staffs thinned by expansion will pad batting averages this season. At least he wasn't going to credit the Tigers' production to poor pitching by the Devil Rays. "You had Wilson Alvarez pitching. He's going to be a great pitcher," Bell said. "It was just one of those nights where everything we hit fell in. The balls we hit hard fell in. Wilson is going to be a good pitcher for a long time. "I didn't think the ball traveled as well tonight as it did during the workout the other day. So they were right that once people get in here, the ball slows down a little bit. I think there's going to have to be a little more time. Tonight there was a lot of runs scored. We'll wait and see what happens." Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.