Payton Tolle deals, strikes out eight; Jarren Duran homers as Red Sox beat Tigers 5-4

Payton Tolle was terrific on Monday night.

The left-hander dominated Detroit’s lineup, striking out eight in the Red Sox’ 5-4 win over the Tigers.

Tolle was electric early, retiring the first 12 batters he faced through four perfect innings. He allowed his first baserunner in the fifth, when Riley Greene doubled for his ninth of the season, but quickly settled in and retired the next three hitters to erase the threat.

The sixth inning proved more challenging.

Tolle hit Colt Keith to lead things off, then recorded a quick out against Zack Short before issuing a walk to Jahmai Jones. With runners on first and second, Carlos Narváez attempted a pickoff at first base but threw the ball into right field in the rainy conditions at Comerica Park. Both runners advanced, though Wilyer Abreu’s awareness backing up the play limited the damage, keeping them at second and third.

Matt Vierling followed with a sharp liner to third, where Andruw Monasterio rushed a throw home and sent it wide, allowing two runs to score.

Tolle limited the damage, striking out the final two batters of the inning to escape further trouble.

With the rain intensifying in Detroit, the early 2-0 deficit felt significant. Instead, the Red Sox responded, erupting for a five-run seventh inning to flip the game.

After his errant throw in the sixth, Narváez helped spark the Red Sox in the seventh, leading off with a walk before Monasterio singled to right.

With two on, Jarren Duran delivered the turning point, a 381-foot opposite-field three-run homer over the left-field wall, giving Boston a 3-2 lead. It was Duran’s fourth homer of the season and his second three-run blast, the first coming in Friday’s win over Houston.

“I’m just happy for the team, we keep putting good at bats together and we’re going to get those hits when we need them,” Duran told NESN’s Jahmai Webster postgame. “It’s baseball, it’s a long season, so we’re going to keep grinding.”

The Red Sox kept the pressure on when Masataka Yoshida doubled, his fourth of the season, and later scored on an Abreu single to left, extending the lead to 4-2. Ceddanne Rafaela followed with a single, and Marcelo Mayer added another base hit to right, scoring Rafaela to make it 5-2.

The left-hander finished with a strong line: seven innings, two runs (unearned) on one hit, with one walk and eight strikeouts. He threw 83 pitches, 59 for strikes, and generated nine swings and misses. Tolle leaned on a deep mix, throwing 27 four-seam fastballs (topping out at 98.5 mph), along with 20 sinkers, 16 curveballs, 14 cutters, and six changeups.

“We all know Tolle’s a dog and he went out there and showed it tonight,” Duran said. “I’m proud of him.”

As the rain intensified, the game was paused for 28 minutes.

Out of the delay, Boston adjusted defensively. Duran moved from designated hitter to left field, replacing Yoshida, while Caleb Durbin entered at third base for Monasterio.

After throwing 1 1/3 innings in Sunday’s loss, Garrett Whitlock returned for the eighth, and it wasn’t clean.

He allowed a leadoff single to Colt Keith, then retired the next two hitters before surrendering a double to Dillion Dingler. Whitlock limited the damage, striking out Greene swinging on a nasty 87 mph changeup to end the inning.

Boston turned to Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, and the veteran left-hander shut the door. Chapman retired the side in order to secure his 374th career save, striking out the first batter he faced before getting Spencer Torkelson to ground out and Hao-Yu Lee to fly out to right to end the game.

Despite the win for the Sox on Monday night, the hits kept coming, but not the kind that produce runs.

Roman Anthony exited Monday night’s game with