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 big hit came, the big hit that we needed. And then a whole bunch more came after it. So, just a really good win,” interim manager Chad Tracy said to reporters after the game. “We had more missed opportunities early and kind of said, ‘Hey, keep getting them on there. Somebody's gonna pop one.’ And we did. So it was a big swing by Jarren.”

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 an apparent wrist injury after just one at-bat. He was replaced by Yoshida, who shifted into left field.

The injury appeared to occur in the first inning, when Anthony fouled off a pitch on a check swing against Tyler Holton. He was seen on the NESN broadcast flexing his right hand, prompting Tracy and head athletic trainer Brandon Henry to check on him.

“I just took a swing and it didn’t feel good,” Anthony said. “As I came back in and went under to continue to swing, it just was painful.”

Anthony remained in the game briefly, grounding into a fielder’s choice two pitches later and taking the field for the bottom of the inning, but was removed shortly after.

After the game, Tracy told reporters that X-rays on Anthony came back negative. He will return to Boston to see a team specialist and undergo further evaluation.

“Imaging tonight was negative, but we are gonna send him back to Boston to see our hand specialist just to let him look at it and make sure,” Tracy said. “I think the whole point is to get him back with our specialist to see him and see how he is. If everything’s good, we’ll get him back here. But we’ve got to get him back there first.”

Tracy expressed hope that Anthony will avoid a stint on the injured list, but said a final determination will be made after the additional testing.

"I think the whole point is to get him back with our specialist to see him and see how he is,” Tracy said after the game. “If everything’s good, we’ll get him back here. But we’ve got to get him back there first."

Anthony is expected to undergo an MRI in Boston. While he hasn’t experienced any swelling or bruising in his hand or wrist, the outfielder said he’s unfamiliar with this type of injury and isn’t sure what to expect.

“As far as having a feel for what it may be, I’m not sure,” Anthony said. “I know when it comes to the hand, there’s a lot of little things in the hand I have no idea about. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow.

“I’ve never dealt with a hand (injury) so I’ll leave that up to the hand specialist to see what’s going on. As far as X-rays being negative, or looking negative, I’m not exactly sure how an X-ray works, but that’s a good sign for sure."

The 21-year-old has endured an uneven start to the season, entering Monday hitting .231 with one home run, five doubles, five RBIs, and a .681 OPS across 29 games. He had recently begun to heat up, going 6-for-17 over his last four games, including a five-hit performance during the weekend series against Houston.

Injuries have been a recurring theme early in Anthony’s young career. His rookie season ended on Sept. 2 with a Grade 2 oblique strain that sidelined him for the final month and postseason. More recently, he missed four games in late April due to an upper back issue.

With the win, Boston improved to 1-18 in games in which its opponent led by two or more runs. The Red Sox went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

The Red Sox are now 4-4 under Tracy. 

Left-hander Jovani Morán (0-0, 2.33 ERA) will be the opener on Tuesday, and then they'll turn the ball over to Brayan Bello (1-4, 9.12 ERA). It'll be the first career start for Morán. The Tigers are expected to counter with left-hander Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.35 ERA).