A day off Monday apparently did little good for the Red Sox, who saw their losing streak extended to a season-high five games with a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
The Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but didn't do much offensively after that. Over the final five innings, the Sox managed just three base hits, two of them infield singles.
Meanwhile, Garrett Richards' struggles continued. He couldn't get an out in the fifth inning and was charged with three runs allowed. The Tigers added an insurance run off Yacksel Rios in the seventh.
WHO: Red Sox (63-44) vs. Detroit Tigers (53-57)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Comerica Park
SEASON SERIES: BOS 2-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Garrett Richards (6-6, 5.15 vs. RHP Wily Peralta (3-2, 3.64)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Duran CF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Verdugo LF
Renfroe RF
Gonzalez 2B
Vazquez C
Cordero 1B
TIGERS
Baddoo LF
Schoop 1B
Grossman RF
Cabrera DH
Candelario 3B
Haase C
Castro, Harold SS
Castro, Willi 2B
Hill CF
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B7: Yacksel Rios retires the first two hitters he faces on strikeouts, but then allows a two-out double to Jonathan Schoop and run-scoring single to Robbie Grossman, producing a huge insurance run for the Tigers.
B6: Impressive inning from Hansel Robles, making his second appearance for the Sox since being acquired last week. Three strikeouts sandwiched around a ground single.
B5: Huge outs for Sawamura, who gets Cabrera to ground into an inning-ending double play.
B5: Tigers take their first lead of the night as Richards walks No. 9 hitter Derek Hill and allows a run-scoring double to the gap in right-center. Hirokazu Sawamura on with one on and no out.
T5: Red Sox miss an opportunity as Alex Verdugo fans to strand two.
B4: After loading the bases with no outs, Richards escapes with minimal damage -- one run scored.
B4: Richards finds himself in a game in the fourth, with consecutive singles giving the Tigers first-and-second with no out.
B2: Miguel Cabrera, inching closer to 500 career homers, hits one out to RF to put the Tigers on the board. That's No. 498. That's six homers allowed by Richards in the last three games.
T2: Hanging breaking ball is out to left-center by Hunter Renfroe, his 17th and his second in the last two games.
B1: A rare 1-2-3 first inning for Garrett Richards, who has struggled mightily in the first inning this season.
T1: J.D. Martinez swings at the first pitch he sees and makes the Tigers pay for their defensive sloppiness. Jeimer Candelario had thrown wildly, putting Xander Bogaerts at second, from where he scored on an opposite-field single from Martinez.
WHAT'S UP: At 63-44 (.589), the Red Sox own the third-best record in the AL, sixth-best in MLB...They have lost five of their last six games, after winning six of their previous seven....The Red Sox have lost their last four games, their longest losing streak of the season...Prior to this, it had been nearly two months since they lost 3 straight games (5/31- 6/2)...Between streaks, they were 31-17 (.646). The Sox were the last AL team to lose four consecutive games...Prior to this past weekend at TB, they hadn’t been swept since their first series of the season vs. BAL....The Red Sox trail the Rays by one game, the smallest gap between first- and second-place teams in any division...The Sox held at least a share of first place at the start of 46 straight days, then 34 consecutive days from...The Sox' largest deficit of the season is three games, and their largest lead of 2021 is 4.5 games.....The Red Sox have allowed 32 runs in their last four games (8.45 ERA), after giving up four runs or fewer in each of their previous nine games...In their first nine games out of the All-Star break, Sox starters posted a 3.50 ERA....In their last seven games, they have an 8.70 ERA ...In their last 30 games , Sox pitchers rank fifth in the majors in SO/BB ratio....Red Sox relievers rank in third in the AL and seventh in MLB in ERA (3.62)...Their nine active relievers have a combined 2.80 ERA for Boston this season ..In his last 14 games, Matt Barnes has posted a 0.66 ERA with a 0.88 WHIP...Beginning April 30, Josh Taylor has allowed 0 runs in 33 of his 34 outings Among the 170 pitchers with at least 50.0 innings this season, Garrett Whitlock ranks first in the AL and 2nd in the majors with a 1.21 ERA (deGrom-1.08). Whitlock has made 19 scoreless appearances of more than an inning, the most in MLB...He is the first Sox pitcher with 19 such games in a season since Derek Lowe in 1999 (22)....In 16 games since the All-Star break, the Red Sox are averaging 4.1 runs per game and hitting .242 with a .738 OPS...Overall, they rank in the to five in the majors in runs (tied for fourth, 530), AVG (fourth, .256), SLG (fourth .438), OPS (fifth) .758), doubles (first, 226), and XBH (first, 374). The Red Sox lead MLB with 33 OF assists, 10 more than any other team...Sox OFs rank second in the AL and tied for fifth in MLB with 17 defensive runs saved...Hunter Renfroe leads the majors with 13 OF assists; 17 teams have fewer than 13 OF assists this season.
NOTES:
* The Red Sox are set to activate Marwin Gonzalez from the IL. To make room, however, the Sox are set to play RHP Matt Barnes on the IL-Covid List. Barnes has had symptoms for two days. The Sox went through a bunch of tests, all of which came back negative. Barnes is being kept away from the team at the hotel and was awaiting the result of his test. Alex Cora said there was one more player not feeling well, but that player tested negative. "We should be OK,'' said Cora. "We can control what we can control. We just came from Florida and this is the reality of the world. We're susceptible to this. We know this. All we can control is what we do in the clubhouse, and hotel.''
* Chris Sale will pitch Saturday and Cora said that's likely his final rehab tuneup. "I don't want to say 100 percent, but the way things are trending, most likely (that's it),'' said Cora.
* Matt Andriese is set to throw live BP Tuesday. Danny Santana and Christian Arroyo have started running but haven't begun baseball activities. Darwinzon Hernandez (oblique) is feeling worse since being placed on the IL and will undergo an MRI Wednesday. "We felt like he was going to be back soon,'' said Cora of Hernandez. "Now, he's in pain and he's a little more sore, so we have to do so more testing and see where he's at.''
* Kyle Schwarber continues to work out with the team in Detroit and is taking ground balls at first base. The thinking is he could begin a rehab assignment either this weekend or early next week. "The (trainers) are very pleased with where he is, strength-wise,'' said Cora. "Things are progressing a lot better than we thought.''
* Ryan Brasier is set to throw a bullpen for Worcester Wednesday, then will progress to two live BP sessions. After that could come a rehab assignment, putting him on track -- without setbacks -- to return by later this month. "I'm pleasantly surprised that he's doing so well and things are trending in the right direction,'' said Cora.