Saturday’s matchup in Boston was a good one for the Tigers on paper. Reese Olson has pitched great this season, while RHP Cooper Criswell has just been solid. However, Olson has benefited from giving up just one home run on the season, and that trend would not hold up in this one.
For one of the first times this season, the Tigers did give Olson a lead to work with. Matt Vierling led off in this one as A.J. Hinch tries to shuffle the lineup around with Kerry Carpenter out for what now appears a lengthy stay on the injured list to recover from a lumbar spine fracture. Vierling smoked a drive off the Green Monster to open the game, and an error on Ceddane Rafaela in misplaying the ball off the wall ended with Vierling at third base. Riley Greene singled him home, and it was 1-0 Tigers.
Olson breezed through the first, but in the second, Emmanuel Valdez got a fourseamer up in the zone and smoked it into the Red Sox bullpen to tie the game. He cleaned up the inning with no further trouble, but in the third, a pair of singles with one out created some trouble. Olson got a ground out, but Jarren Duran scored from third on the play to give Boston a 2-1 lead.
Wenceel Pérez led off the fourth inning with a walk, but Gio Urshela and Colt Keith took some hard luck on lineouts, and Spencer Torkelson tapped a little grounder to Dominic Smith at first for the final out.
Olson really was doing a nice job carving up the Red Sox, but Emmanuel Valdez had his number, leading off the bottom of the fourth with a double off the Monster. A ground out moved him to third, and then Reese McGuire lifted a pop fly down the left field line just in the little strip of foul territory down there. Riley Greene committed to making the catch, but the ball drifted just into the stands. Greene’s leap allowed him to haul it in for the second out, but he stumbled upon landing and was unable to throw out Valdez, who tagged and scored. Little hard luck for Olson there. Hard to ding Greene too much either. Probably the right decision, he just landed awkwardly off the wall.
Both pitches cruised through the fifth without issue, Olson racking up his fifth strikeout and still yet to allow a walk in this one. The offense just couldn’t get much done against a pretty average starter in Cooper Criswell. Vierling doubled again to lead off the sixth, knocking Criswell from the game. Brennan Bernardino took over and struck out Riley Greene. More rough batted ball luck followed as Pérez lined out to right center field on a fine diving play from Rafaela, who cut down Vierling trying belatedly to tag up to end the inning.
Olson was just over 80 pitches starting the sixth, but he issued a leadoff walk to Dominic Smith and the bullpen got busy warming up. Olson really had Rafael Devers number in this one, and got a grounder to first base for the first out of the inning, moving Smith to second. That brought up Valdez for the third time, and Hinch opted to stick with Olson against the typically light hitting left-hander. Olson turned heavily to his typically lethal changeup, but went to the well one too many times. The third changeup was at the top of the knees, and Valdez lifted a routine fly ball down the right field line that snuck around Pesky’s pole for a two-run shot. 5-1 Red Sox.
Will Vest came on and gave up a Connor Wong single. Wong stole second despite a good throw as Javy Báez couldn’t hold on and the ball bounded away. Wong reached third on the play, but Vest punched out Reese McGuire with a nasty slider and blew Rafaela away with gas to end the inning.
It was go time for the Tigers’ offense as they were down to their final nine outs in the seventh. Urshela led off with a single up the middle, but the lefty Bernardino carved up Colt Keith on three pitches. Spencer Torkelson got ahead 3-0 and then took two very juicy fastball, fouled off two more over the plate, and then got another on the inner edge and lifted a broken bat fly ball to left for the second out. Andy Ibánez pinch-hit for McKinstry and flew out sharply to deep center field for the final out of the inning.
Andrew Chafin took over in the bottom half. He got a ground out to start the inning, but Jarren Duran drilled a double to left with one out. Chafin continues to struggle to locate his sinker and he walked Wilyer Abreu. Dominic Smith popped out to shallow right center on a good play from Javier Báez, but Devers couldn’t be denied all game long and took a sinker the opposite way for an RBI single. A poor relay was charged an error on Riley Greene, and the runners advanced to second and third on the play. Chafin struck out the pesky Valdez to end the inning.
Brad Keller came on for the top of the eighth, and collected three quick outs. Jason Foley got a heck of a play from Javy Báez on a McGuire ground ball to help him out. He then gave up a two-out single to Rafaela, who stole second on a wild throw by Jake Rogers. Báez tried to fake him into staying at second but the Red Sox center fielder took third. Foley struck out David Hamilton to make it moot.
Down to their last three outs, Riley Greene singled and Gio Urshela hammered one over the Monster for a two-run shot to make it 6-3, but that was as close as they’d get.
The Tigers fall to 28-30 on the year, four games back in the Wild Card chase. RHP Casey Mize will try to get on track against a good opponent in LHP Bryan Bello on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Mark Canha is apparently dealing with a psoas muscle injury. He’s going to try and play on Sunday, but if he can’t go the Tigers are going to be playing with a hollowed out outfield and two of their best bats on the shelf. Should’ve won more while they were healthy.