Turnabout is fair play and the Boston Red Sox served it back to the Detroit Tigers in today's game. Yesterday Javier Baez put the Tigers ahead in the eighth inning but today it was the Sox turn to go ahead late. Rich Hill allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the third but the Sox clawed back with 3 in the top of the sixth. Two innings later Rafael Devers knocked in Kike Hernandez and Christian Arroyo drove in Devers for the insurance run. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock tossed 4 scoreless innings including the ninth to nail down the win. The Sox had beaten the Tigers 5-3 in Comerica Park.
Tyler Alexander got the ball in the top of the first inning and Kike Hernandez continued his slump by swinging at strike three over his head to start. Rafael Devers took strike three and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to third to end the inning. Rich Hill began his third go-around with the Sox in the bottom of the first and froze Robbie Grossman for strike three to begin. Jonathan Schoop flied out to center and Javier Baez struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the second inning as JD Martinez grounded out to third to begin. Bobby Dalbec lined out to short and Christian Arroyo lined out to a running Akil Baddoo to end the inning. Jeimer Candelario popped up to short to start the bottom of the second and Miguel Cabrera was rung up for strike three on a check swing. Eric Haase grounded out to short to end the inning.
Alex Verdugo flied out to center to begin the top of the third inning before Kevin Plawecki flied out to right and Jonathan Arauz struck out swinging to end the inning. The Tigers exploded in the bottom of the third as Baddoo struck out swinging to start. Spencer Torkelson doubled to center and Dustin Garneau singled him to third before Grossman grounded out to third to score Spencer. Schoop singled to right to score Garneau and Baez doubled to left to score Schoop/ Candelario lined out to center to end the inning but the Tigers were up 3-0.
The Sox blew a rally in the top of the fourth as Hernandez grounded out to third to start. Devers blooped a base hit to left and Bogaerts beat out an infield single to short but Martinez banged into a double play to end the inning. Hill recovered to get Cabrera to fly out to center to start the bottom of the fourth. Haase flied out to center but Baddoo ripped a double to left. Verdugo tried to kick the ball back to the infield for an error to allow Akil to reach third but Torkelson grounded out to short to end the inning.
Dalbec went down swinging to open the top of the fifth before Arroyo grounded out to short. Verdugo lined out to left to end the inning. Garneau popped up to third to start the bottom of the fifth but Grossman walked. All of a sudden Sox manager Alex Cora marched out of the dugout and lifted Hill after just 70 pitches. Once again by Cora's own call, a starter failed to get out of the fifth inning. Hill allowed 5 hits and 3 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Hiro Sawamura came in and Schoop popped up to Devers but for some reason Grossman ran all the way around the bases and was doubled off at first to end the inning.
The Sox stormed back in the top of the sixth as Plawecki singled to left to start. Arauz dropped down a bunt to move Kevin to second and Hernandez broke his slump with a double to right to score him. Devers ripped a base hot to right to score Hernandez and that was it for Alexander. Jacob Barnes came in to pitch and uncorked a wild pitch to move Devers to second. Bogaerts popped up to short but Martinez doubled just inside the right field foul line to score Devers and tie the game. Dalbec flied out to left to end the inning with the game tied 3-3.
Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in for the bottom of the sixth and Baez grounded out to second to begin. Candelario walked but Cabrera flied out to right. Haase also flied out to right to end the inning.
Victor Reyes took over in right with Joe Jimenez now on the mound to begin the top of the seventh. Arroyo grounded out to short to start and Verdugo flied out to left. Plawecki walked but Arauz struck out swinging to end the inning. Jackie Bradley Jr came in to play right with Arroyo moving to second to replace Arauz in the bottom of the seventh. Baddoo flied out to center, Torkelson struck out swinging and Garneau popped up to third to end the inning.
Alex Lange came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Hernandez walked to start. A wild pitch moved Kike to second and Devers ripped a base hit to center. Baddoo booted the ball which allowed Hernandez to score and Devers to take second. Bogaerts grounded back to the mound but Martinez was plunked to chase Lange. Will Vest came in to pitch and struck out Dalbec swinging but Arroyo singled in the hole at short to score Devers with another run. Verdugo flied out to left to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-3.
The Lock returned for the bottom of the eighth and Reyes hit a bullet to Dalbec to start. Schoop grounded back to the mound and Baez lined out to center to end the inning.
Jason Foley came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Plawecki flied out to left to start. JBJ grounded out to short but Hernandez doubled to right. Devers grounded out to second to end the inning. The Lock came back to close out the bottom of the ninth and Candelario popped up to third to start. Cabrera went down hacking and Haase lined out to left to end the game. The Sox had won it 5-3.
Sox win
Raffy Hero
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and an error.
Hero of the Night is Rafael Devers. He drove in two big runs including the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
The Good:
Kike Hernandez was 2 for 4 with a walk, rbi and 2 runs scored.
JD Martinez was 1 for 3 with an rbi and a hit by pitch.
Kevin Plawecki was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Hiro Sawamura got the final two outs of the fifth inning.
Garrett Whitlock pitched four scoreless innings to earn the win.
The Bad:
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and an error.
Jonathan Arauz was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 1 in his only plate appearance.
Rich Hill allowed 3 runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 4.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4.
Christian Arroyo was just 1 for 4 but the one hit drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
Bad news is Cora is still pulling starters in the fifth inning but the good news is the offense came alive to rally in this one. The Sox are too good not to score an average of 4-5 runs a game and if the pitching is even half decent, that should be good enough to win games. Hernandez finally broke his slump and almost everyone got in on the fun. Rich Hill had Dice K Disease in the the third inning but didn't really pitch that bad. Whitlock stepped up big to get the win, but the problem is now he probably won't pitch for a few days. Still, the Sox offense showed some balls from battling back down 3-0 to tie the game, take the lead and hold the lead. Its a shame that Cora refuses to let the starters go 6 innings, especially when he knows what happened last year. You can't rely on Whitlock and the others to throw 4 innings a game every day. Still, the offense finally did something and they won the game. Tomorrow afternoon the Sox look to take the rubber game of this series. Nathan Eovaldi (0-0, 5.40 ERA) makes his second start of the season against none other than our old friend Eduardo Rodriguez. The game begins at 1:10 PM at Comerica Park.
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