BOSTON, Mass. — There was no shortage of offense in the 3-game series between the Tigers and Red Sox this week. In the first game on Tuesday, the Red Sox won an 11-7 slugfest. The Tigers bounced back with a 6-5 win in 10 innings on Wednesday. While unsurprising for the Red Sox as the top-scoring team in the MLB, the runs are a welcome surprise to Tigers’ fans. Their offense is ranked last in the MLB runs scored.
Thursday’s matchup was no different as both The Red Sox (19-13) and the Tigers (9-23) continued the offensive firepower. The two teams combined for 30 hits, 21 runs and scored in eight of the nine innings in a back-and-forth game. In the end, the Red Sox produced four runs with two outs in the eighth in route to a 12-9 victory.
For the Tigers, they hoped the scoring could die down for the last two innings. They entered the bottom of the eighth with a 1-run, 9-8 lead. However, that is when the Tigers imploded and the Red Sox capitalized; two errors and a walk led to 2 RBI singles 4 total runs in the inning.
Individually, the Red Sox got huge days from J.D. Martinez, Rafael Devers, and Franchy Cordero. Martinez added to his MLB-best RBI total with 2 RBIs on 2 hits while scoring 3 runs. Devers grabbed 3 RBIs on 2 hits while Cordero had 3 hits, 3 runs scored, and an RBI.
Sloppy Defense Hurts the Tigers
In a slugfest like Thursday’s Tigers-Red Sox matchup, errors can be costly. Allowing a hot offense multiple chances to score runs usually comes back to cost you.
Both teams had defensive miscues (Tigers committed 4 errors to the Red Sox 2), but the Tigers’ errors were much costlier. The big Red Sox eighth inning was aided by errors from Niko Goodrum and Jameir Candelario. Both of those runners came around to score, while one directly led to the go-ahead run.
The errors meant that pitcher Alex Lange picks up the loss despite no earned runs. The Tigers’ pitchers were only credited with 5 earned runs out of the 12 scored. That signals the defensive effort the staff was dealing with today.
“We just didn’t complete the plays. We obviously had a lot of miscues today that gave them a lot of opportunities,” said manager A.J. Hinch.
Enrique Hernandez Leaves the Game Early
Bad news for Red Sox fans came early in the game. Leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez led off the first inning with a double but came hobbled into second base. Seconds later, he was coming out of the game as it appeared Hernandez tweaked his right hamstring.
Hernandez had just been activated on Sunday after missing two games last week. The center fielder ran into the wall last Thursday and missed Friday and Saturday’s matchups. Time will tell if this injury will for Hernandez out of the lineup for an extended period of time. Franchy Cordero pinch ran for Hernandez and produced well, grabbing 3 hits and 3 runs scored
