Mead's go-ahead HR 'couldn't come at a better moment'

ST. PETERSBURG -- The first few weeks of the season, Curtis Mead felt like he was playing it safe.

The 23-year-old rookie didn’t want to swing and miss. He did everything he could to avoid striking out, even if that meant getting out of his approach to put the ball in play. For the first time in his professional career, the touted prospect worried about being demoted and sent back to the Minor Leagues.

Before the Rays began their series at Yankee Stadium last weekend, Mead sat down with manager Kevin Cash and some of the club’s mental performance staff for an honest conversation.

“We talked and came to the point where I was happy to face the music and see if I was good enough, in a sense,” Mead said. “Not worry about what could go wrong and be more worried about what could go right.”

That approach paid off Wednesday night as the Australian infielder lifted a tie-breaking, two-run homer to left field in the sixth inning of the Rays’ 7-5 win over the Tigers at Tropicana Field. It was Mead’s first extra-base hit of the season, his second career home run and, above all, a huge relief.

“Couldn’t come at a better moment, which was cool,” Mead said, smiling. “I definitely think that it just takes the weight off the shoulders a little bit, not searching for the first one of the year, so hopefully they all start rolling from here.”

It was hardly a majestic shot, coming off Mead’s bat at 87.3 mph, the lowest exit velocity of any out-of-the-park homer this season and tied for the seventh lowest since 2015. Traveling a projected 327 feet, according to Statcast, it would have been a home run in just one ballpark: Tropicana Field.

Even Mead admitted he was “probably 50/50” on whether it would get out, saying he only felt comfortable when it bounced into 162 Landing on the other side of the left-field fence.

“I didn’t get it very good, but I knew if it was going to go, it was the perfect angle,” Mead said.

Mead had to battle through the at-bat first, though. Reliever Will Vest pounded him with sinkers and fastballs inside, but Mead was committed to see a pitch out over the plate and drive it somewhere.

Despite being a highly accomplished hitter in the Minors, Mead had struggled to do that in the early going. He entered the night batting just .226 with a .520 OPS and one RBI.

He was reaching for pitches outside the strike zone, as shown by his seventh-percentile chase rate. His average exit velocity entering the series finale was just 88.4 mph. He’d hit into deeper outs, but his longest hit of the season before Wednesday night was a 228-foot single on April 3 that came off his bat at just 68.9 mph.

“Kind of getting over that fear and hopefully taking some strikeouts as long as [there’s] some upside as well,” Mead said. “I think it just comes with the idea of going down, possibly. I think in the Minor Leagues, you don’t really worry about going backward, I guess. It’s been a learning curve, which has been cool.”

So Mead fouled off four pitches, including three consecutive 2-2 offerings, before connecting on an elevated slider to put the Rays back on top.

“Felt really good for us in the moment, for sure,” Cash said. “Sometimes the results don’t immediately come with that, but he’s looking to damage and drive balls -- and it’s nice when you get rewarded. For him to get that big hit, he’s got to be feeling good.”

It was one of several feel-good moments for the Rays as they avoided their first sweep of the season.

Catcher Ben Rortvedt continued to come through in the clutch with a pair of run-scoring hits, including the tying single in the sixth after reliever Chris Devenski gave up the lead. Using Rortvedt’s bats, Yandy Díaz smashed four balls the other way with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph, two of which landed for hits. Randy Arozarena homered to left field off starter Jack Flaherty in the first inning, his first home run since March 31.

Lefty Tyler Alexander held his former Detroit team to two runs over four innings, winning trash-talking rights for the foreseeable future. Reliever Jason Adam pitched two perfect innings, continuing his dominant run, and Garrett Cleavinger earned his second save.

But the best moment of the night belonged to Mead.

“I thought it was super special. When [Detroit] took the lead, it kind of felt like, ‘Oh, damn, another one of those games?’” he said. “For the offense to battle back and get back in the game and take the lead, I felt like it was huge for the club.”