LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2, on Tuesday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
The Tigers are 11-9 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Five runs arrived for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth inning, all thanks to several players from minor-league camp, to put the Tigers ahead 6-2.
The Tigers grabbed the lead, 3-2, on Jake Holton’s two-run single. He swung at a 3-0 fastball from right-handed reliever Chase Shugart and drove in Eric De La Rosa (walk) and Gage Workman (walk).
Brendon Davis, still a member of big-league camp, singled to keep the pressure on, and Colt Keith — arguably the top prospect in the organization — increased the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single.
The Tigers added two more runs on Luis Garcia’s sacrifice fly to right field. On the play, a throwing error from shortstop Luis Ravelo while trying to get the ball into the infield allowed a second run to score.
It was heads-up baserunning from Keith.
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For the second straight outing, right-handed reliever Alex Lange struggled to throw strikes. He didn’t allow a run against the Red Sox in the sixth inning, but he walked two batters.
Lange, who has aspirations to close for the Tigers, has thrown 13 of 38 pitches for strikes — a 34.2% strike rate — and conceded five walks in his past two outings. His command faltered at times during the regular season in 2022, as well.
Starting off
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, making his third start this spring, allowed two runs on five hits with zero walks and three strikeouts in 2⅔ innings, throwing 51 of 69 pitches for strikes.
The Red Sox didn’t whiff at his revered changeup, but they did so six times at his slider.
Lorenzen lost an eight-pitch battle and gave up a solo home run to Red Sox leadoff hitter Raimel Tapia in the first inning. The next batter, Triston Casas, battled for 11 pitches and singled to right field.
The Tigers removed Lorenzen after 25 pitches.
Left-hander Adam Wolf recorded the final two outs in the first, and Lorenzen came back for the second inning. He retired the Red Sox in order and needed 14 pitches for his three outs in the second.
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In the fourth, Lorenzen allowed a solo home run to Rob Refsnyder.
He struck out Bobby Dalbec with a sweeping slider to wrap up his afternoon. Right-hander Edwin Uceta took over in search of the final two outs, but catcher Jake Rogers stole the show.
Rogers, who missed last season due to Tommy John surgery, picked off Ronaldo Hernandez at first base for the second out, then threw out Greg Allen trying to steal second base for the third out.
At the plate
The Tigers scored their first run in the fourth.
Zack Short started the inning with a single but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. Ryan Kreidler followed by drilling a first-pitch fastball from right-hander Nick Pivetta off the right-field wall for a triple.
Riley Greene scored Kreidler on his ground-ball single into right.
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Short finished 1-for-2 with one walk and one strikeout. The Tigers also got early hits from Kreidler, Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Austin Meadows and Jermaine Palacios. Torkelson registered a 107.5 mph exit velocity on his ground-ball single into center.
The Tigers went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position over the first seven innings.
On the mound
Uceta took a step forward in the fifth inning, after Rogers helped him get through the fourth. He struck out Christian Koss with a 93.9 mph sinker and Tapia with a 94 mph sinker.
Left-hander Miguel Del Pozo tossed a scoreless seventh.
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Rule 5 draft pick Mason Englert, a right-hander, faced four batters in the eighth inning. He walked the second batter, Casas, on six pitches before beating Adam Duvall and Christian Arroyo.
Englert struck out Duvall on three pitches: called strike (84.3 mph slider), called strike (93 mph four-seam fastball) and swinging strike (84.9 mph changeup). The 23-year-old, who needs to stay on the 26-man roster for the entire season or else be offered back to his former team, returned for a perfect ninth inning.
He continues to impress.
Three stars
1. Englert; 2. Kreidler; 3. Uceta.
Next up
Thursday (6:05 p.m.) vs. Philadelphia Phillies in Lakeland.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.