FINAL: Red Sox 7, Detroit Tigers 3 - Rafaela Homers Twice, Houck Tosses Gem

The Red Sox (29-29) get a much needed win to even the four game series at one a piece, with a 7-3 win against the Detroit Tigers (28-29).

Boston's bats came alive in tonight's game, totaling 12 hits, with six of them being for extra bases. Seven of the nine Sox hitters all got at least one hit, with David Hamilton leading the team in that category with three of his own, all singles. Dominic Smith and Rob Refsnyder both got RBI doubles in the win, for the 13th and 14th RBI, respectively.

It was just another day on the job for Tanner Houck tonight, as he went seven strong innings, giving up one run on three hits, striking out six in the process. His ERA moves to 1.85 on the year. Relief appearances were made by Greg Weissert, who gave up a two run home run to Colt Keith in the bottom of the eighth, and Justin Slaten, who pitched the ninth inning and struck out Riley Greene to end the game with two runners in scoring position.

My Player of the Game: Ceddanne Rafaela - Rafaela had one of his best games of his young career tonight. He went 2-4, with both hits being home runs, and five RBI. It is his first game with multiple home runs, and he now leads all rookies in RBI with 33. A great game for the young Sox  defensive swiss army knife.

Tomorrows game is slated for a 4:10 p.m. first pitch, back on NESN. Probable starters are Reese Olson (1-5, 1.92 ERA) and Cooper Criswell (2-2, 3.96 ERA)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ___________________________

WHO: Detroit Tigers (28-28) at Red Sox (28-29)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: 0-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Kenta Maeda (2-1, 5.80 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Houck (4-5, 1.90 ERA)
TV/RADIO: Apple TV+, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran LF
Wilyer Abreu RF
Connor Wong C
Rafael Devers 3B
Rob Refsnyder DH
Dominic Smith 1B
Vaughn Grissom 2B
David Hamilton SS
Ceddanne Rafaela CF

SP Tanner Houck

OPPONENT

Wenceel Perez RF
Riley Greene CF
Matt Vierling 3B
Gio Urshela 1B
Colt Keith DH
Akil Baddoo LF
Andy Ibanez SS
Zach McKinstry SS
Carson Kelly C

SP Kenta Maeda

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox lost last night’s series opener against the Tigers, 5-0...Boston was held hitless until Rob Refsnyder hit a single with one out in the 7th inning. Nick Pivetta struck out a franchise-record-tying 8 consecutive batters, from the 2nd out of the 1st inning through the end of the 3rd. Pivetta held DET hitless through 4.0 innings before allowing a solo HR in the 5th.

Tonight’s starter Tanner Houck owns a 1.90 ERA, the 2nd-lowest mark in the AL (KC’s Seth Lugo-1.72)...He also leads MLB pitchers in fWAR (2.5). Houck’s ERA is the lowest by a Red Sox starter through 11 starts in a season since Clay Buchholz posted a 1.62 mark in 2013.

Among qualified AL rookies, multiple Red Sox players rank within the top 5 in several offensive categories. Wilyer Abreu leads qualified AL rookies in bWAR (2.1), hits (44), doubles (13), XBH (21), total bases (79), AVG (.278), OBP (.350), SLG (.500), and OPS (.850), and ranks 2nd in HR (6), triples (tied, 2), runs scored (25), and stolen bases (tied, 7).

Red Sox outfielders’ 15 defensive runs lead MLB...Their 8 outfield assists are tied for 4th most in the AL. Jarren Duran’s 9 DRS are tied for 2nd most among all outfielders (TOR’s Daulton Varsho-11)...His 4 outfield assists rank T-2nd in the AL and T-5th in MLB. Wilyer Abreu’s 7 DRS in RF are tied for most in MLB.

Boston has made just 2 errors and allowed 0 unearned runs in its last 11 games...The Sox are tied with NYM for the MLB lead in UER (37) but have allowed only 11 in their last 37 games (26 UER in first 20 games). BOS is 26-12 when allowing 0 unearned runs.

Kenley Jansen is two strikeouts away from passing Rollie Fingers for sixth on the all time list for most strikeouts by a reliever. Jansen currently sits at 1,182 strikeouts in his career.