Ausmus: Loud fan at Trop disrupted Tigers' defense

Brad Ausmus was appalled by his team's defense throughout their three-game set with Tampa Bay Rays - it was "the worst defensive series" in his tenure as Detroit Tigers manager, he said - but the shoddy effort afield in Thursday's 8-7 loss can be attributed, at least in part, to a vocal fan at Tropicana Field.

In the first three innings of Thursday's matinee, a pair of routine fly balls dropped in between center fielder JaCoby Jones, right fielder Tyler Collins, and second baseman Ian Kinsler, and Ausmus explained that a zealous fan - one of just 12,281 in attendance - helped those balls fall in by calling off his players, so to speak.

"Unfortunately, the source of confusion was coming from the stands," Ausmus told Evan Woodberry of MLive.com. "Someone in the stands was yelling, 'I got it!' That's why Kinsler went out acting like he had it and then he heard someone say, 'I got it!' so he backed off."

Ausmus stressed, however, he has no issue with home fans trying to disrupt the opposing teams' defense.

"It's fair game, if you're a fan. I'm not the blaming (the) fan or anything. He's within his rights to do that. We have to make the adjustment," Ausmus said.

Had more fans showed up to Thursday's game, though, those balls are probably caught, Ausmus suggested.

"I think the acoustics of Tropicana Field helped and the fact that there's not a huge number of people sitting in the stands," Ausmus said. "Most of the time, when you have a decent-sized crowd, it's all kind of white noise. All the noise kind of mixes together and nothing really stands out."