June 2nd, 2024
Craig Forde
BOSTON -- It wasn’t pretty, but Detroit won a Sunday tug-of-war at Fenway Park, prevailing, 8-4, in 10 innings to earn a split of their four-game series against the Red Sox.
After allowing the hosts to even things up late and send this one into extra frames, the Tigers, who travel to Texas following the game, were not about to extend things any further, and an Andy Ibáñez pinch-hit RBI double in the 10th would ensure that.
After nearly being plugged in to pinch hit earlier in the game, the Tigers’ second baseman knew his time would come, so he began watching video on Red Sox reliever Cam Booser and noticed that when they last faced the hurler, he threw all cutters.
“I was ready for that,” said Ibáñez, who would take the first two pitches he saw in his at-bat before grabbing hold of a cutter and sending it off the Green Monster for an RBI double and a 5-4 lead for Detroit.
“I didn’t want to rush the at-bat,” he said. “I just had to see and watch how the ball was moving, waiting for that cutter. I wanted to look at it first and then he threw it again.”
“I like Andy against every lefty in the league,” noted manager A.J. Hinch. “He’s in the at-bat, he’s aggressive and disciplined at the same time. He’s going to get a good swing off. I don’t love hitting for Colt [Keith] but in that moment, with Andy being on the bench, huge weapon for us. If we didn’t have Andy, I’m not sure I would have hit for [Keith].”
Javier Báez provided insurance with a two-out, two-RBI single in the 10th, and he would come around on a Carson Kelly double, concluding the scoring for the day.
The Tigers found themselves down immediately, with the Red Sox putting up one run in each of the first three innings.
“It was rough early just because they were putting so much pressure on us,” said Hinch. “They got the lead; they were scoring in every inning…You’ve got to hang in there.”
Starter Casey Mize would only last four innings, the third straight start in which he did not make it through five frames. The right-hander allowed three runs, two earned, and threw 82 pitches on the day, 49 for strikes. He gave up five hits and a season-high four walks.
“He had to work awfully hard to get through his four innings, and that’s why I ended up taking him out,” Hinch said of his starter.
“I need to be more efficient,” Mize said of his effort. “Four innings isn’t good enough. Four walks and long at-bats didn’t help the pitch count.”
After the Tigers collected just three hits in the first four innings, things started to open up for them in the fifth, when they collected three hits. Gio Urshela led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a wild pitch by Boston starter Brayan Bello to get the team on the board.
The Tigers would score another run in the sixth, then in the seventh, behind another three hits, they were able to wrestle the score in their favor, scoring two runs, highlighted by a Wenceel Pérez RBI double followed by a run-scoring groundout by Mark Canha to give the visitors a 4-3 lead.
Boston tied the score in the eighth on a Rafael Devers solo home run off of Alex Faedo, but the team managed to survive Andrew Chafin’s wild ride in the bottom of the ninth inning, escaping and sending things to extra innings despite the southpaw loading the bases with two outs.
Overall, Detroit’s 'pen tossed six innings and allowed a run, three hits and two walks and Chafin would earn his third win of the season after returning to the hill in the bottom of the 10th and putting the hosts down in order.
“The bullpen definitely picked me up, but I definitely gave them too many innings to cover,” Mize added.
“It looked like the story of the game would be missed opportunities or early game offense, or lack thereof, and it turned out to be a very productive night for us because you play the whole game,” said Hinch. “Big at-bats late. Happy flight to Texas. Happy to split the series here with how it went.”
