Chris Sale could only give the Red Sox five innings and the pitchers in relief of him couldn't hold off the Detroit Tigers in a 7-4 Boston loss in Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader that snapped a three-game winning streak.
Heath Hembree surrendered a solo homer to the first batter he faced in the sixth and after a Xander Bogaerts solo homer in the bottom of the inning tied it for the Sox, Colten Brewer blew up in the eighth, tagged for three runs on three hits. The Tigers added on with a run in the ninth off Bobby Poyner.
The Sox managed only five hits. Mookie Betts delivered their first two runs with a third inning single. Bogaerts added a second solo homer in the ninth.
Sale struck out a season-high 10, but left after five innings with his pitch count at 97.
WHO: Red Sox vs. Detroit Tigers
WHEN: 1:05 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: First meeting of the year
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Chris Sale (0-4, 8.50) vs. LHP Matthew Boyd (1-1, 2.96)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI FM 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
3:36 With Rafael Devers hitting for Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez as the DH, Sox will need to shift Vazquez to catcher in the top of the ninth -- and lose the DH.
3:31 A walk and three straight hits allowed by Colten Brewer and the Tigers now lead 6-3. Bullpen has failed to bail Sale out today, allowing four runs in less than three innings of work.
3:23 Ronny Rodriguez continues his hot day, slamming a double high off The Wall. Has two doubles and a homer in four at-bats.
3:01 Red Sox held to just two hits through 5.2 innings, tie it up when Xander Bogaerts turns on an inside fastball (89 mph) and hits it over everything to left.
2:32 At 97 pitches, that's probably all for Sale. Made a couple of mistakes that hurt him, but his best start so far -- 10 strikeouts, a season-high and two walks. Inefficiency was his biggest issue, cutting short his start.
2:21 Solo homer by Grayson Greiner ties the game at 2-2. That's six homers allowed by Sale in five starts. He allowed 11 all of last season and didn't give up his sixth last year until May 6.
2:05 Sale gets ahead of Ronny Rodriguez 0-and-2 but throws a fastball at the top of the zone which Rodriguez clubs for a run-scoring double to center.
1:54 Betts slaps a single to left, scoring two and putting the Red Sox on the board. Betts is now 7-for-21 in his last six games.
151: Tzu-Wei Lin turns on a slider on the outer half and drive it to right for a double, his first extra-base hit of the season.
1:47 High pitch count notwithstanding, hard to argue with the results that Sale is getting -- six strikeouts through three innings, including swing-and-misses on his four-seamer.
1:39 Four pitch inning for Sox in bottom of second. Pitch count comparisons after two: Sale - 44; Matthew Boyd - 14.
1:27 A familiar (this season) pattern emerges for Sale -- an ability to put hitters away. Had a nine-pitch at-bat in the first and Dustin Peterson took him to 10 pitches before singling to left. Lots of foul balls, which, of course, drives up the pitch count.
1:13 In a nine-pitch at-bat, Sale keeps Nick Castellanos in the ballpark -- but just barely. A ball to the garage door in the triangle, about 415 feet, tracked down by Mookie Betts.
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Benintendi LF
Betts CF
Martinez RF
Bogaerts SS
Pearce 1B
Chavis 3B
Vazquez DH
Lin 2B
Leon C
TIGERS
Candelario 3B
Castellanos RF
Cabrera DH
Goodrum 1B
Peterson LF
Rodriguez SS
Harrison 2B
Greiner C
Jones CF
WHAT's UP: The Red Sox are coming off a road trip that saw them lose the first two, then win the next three, the latter of which gave them their first series win of the year, their first series sweep and their first three-game losing streak...The Sox tonight begin a 10-game homestand against Detroit (four games), Tampa Bay (three games) and Oakland (three games)...After playing 16 of their first 22 games on the road this season, the Sox are in the midst of a stretch that has them playing 18-of-25 at home...The Red Sox starting rotation has executed a turnaround. After an 8.79 ERA in the first 13 games of the year, Sox starters have pitched to a 3.21 ERA in the last nine...In the last four games, Red Sox starters have a 33-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio...In his last 12 games, Andrew Benintendi is hitting .348 with four doubles and two homers...He's also reached safely in all 16 career games against the Tigers...Mookie Betts is 6-for-12 in his last three games after gong 3-for-32 in his previous 10 games. He has multi-hit games in each of the last three...J.D. Martinez has hit safely in 21 of 22 games this season, with an active 11-game hitting streak...The last MLB players to reach base in 21 of his team's first 22 games were Melby Cabrera (TOR) and Alexei Ramirez (CWS), both in 2014...Chris Sale is winless in his first four outings, though his velocity and overall stuff showed improvement against the Yankees last Tuesday night...Sale is 10-8 with a 2.94 ERA in 32 career outings -- 22 of them starts -- against the Tigers....Miguel Cabrera (15-for-53 with four homers and seven RBI has fared well against Sale while Nick Castellanos (6-for-36, .167) has struggled the most...JaCoby Jones is also 1-for-11 against the lefty...Benintendi is 4-for-8 with a homer against Boyd and Mitch Moreland is 5-for-16 with a homer and three RBI.....Xander Bogaerts is just 1-for-9.
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- Nathan Eovaldi underwent surgery Tuesday morning to remove loose bodies from his right elbow. "From everything I heard, everything went well,'' said Alex Cora. "He went through this last year. He's going to be fine when he comes back.''
- Cora on Chris Sale: "I do feel he's getting very close to the guy we know he can be. It's all about location and fastball command.''
- The Red Sox have yet to announce who their 26th man will be for the second game.
- Cora hopes that Hector Velazquez can give the team "15 outs....realistically, 12. If he throws the ball the way he did in Arizona, I'm not going to be surprised if he gives us five (innings).''
- Brock Holt is scheduled to hit between games, and could then resume his injury rehab assignment with Pawtucket.
- With two catchers in the starting lineup -- Sandy Leon behind the plate and Christian Vazquez as the DH -- Cora said "it's something I have to get used to.'' A year ago, with Blake Swihart on the roster as the third catcher, Cora said he had more in-game flexibility if an injury took place with one of them. He revealed that Tzu-Wei Lin is the team's emergency third catcher. He's been working a bit with Jason Varitek to prepare.
- Cora on Jackie Bradley Jr's slow start: "A lot of chases, a lot of swings and misses.'' The manager is hopeful that playing 10 games at Fenway on the homestand -- a familiar ballpark with the ability to go the other way -- will help get him back on track.