The third game of a wrap-around four-game series had a start time that was pushed back by three hours to accommodate some inclement weather moving through Boston. After the rains came and (occasionally) went, the Tigers won the game 6-2 while dodging raindrops, especially late in the game.
Framber Valdez made his fifth start for the Tigers, and if you Porcello-out his clunker against the Twins, he’s been sensational. But since we can’t selectively remove only one start from a record, let it just be said
that he’s been, overall, pretty decent. His previous start was on April 14, a seven-inning outing against the Royals in which he only gave up one run; that was the game in which both teams combined to strike out a half-dozen times. Weird.
Facing Valdez was a fellow lefty, Garrett Crochet. He spent three years in the White Sox bullpen (and another on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery), had a solid year in the White Sox’ rotation, exchanged white hosiery for red for 2025, and had a fantastic season last year in Boston, leading the American League in strikeouts. He placed second in the Cy Young voting last year to you-know-who. His previous outing was, shall we say, uncharacteristic for him: eleven runs (ten earned) in 1 2/3 innings against the Twins. The Twins have early on showed a knack for beating up on top shelf southpaws.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, Matt Vierling and Dillon Dingler hit back-to-back doubles for a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning Willson Contreras turned around a sinker that didn’t sink, and parked it over the Green Monster to even the score at 1-1. Trevor Story then singled and Wilyer Abreu walked, but Valdez struck out Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning and limit the damage. He bounced back in the next inning for a 1-2-3 frame, though and went on to a really stong start.
In fact, both starters settled down for a while, with some inconsequential hits sprinkled here-and-there. But Jahmai Jones, who was in the leadoff spot against a lefty today, cracked a long home run to centre to put the Tigers up 2-1 with two out in the top of the fifth.
But the Tigers weren’t done: Gleyber Torres walked, Vierling singled, and Dingler smacked another home run to centre to make it a 5-1 game. All the runs in the fifth scored with two out, incidentally. How about Dillon Dingler, eh?
The rain occasionally intensified through the later innings, and the Fenway grounds crew did their best to make the dirt part of the field as playable as possible. Fresh rosin bags had to be delivered to the mound more than once.
Valdez finished six innings and gave up three hits, two walks and one run while striking out seven. It was good to see him increase his strikeout total today; he’s a big groundball pitcher but the strikeouts were still pretty nice nonetheless. Kyle Finnegan pitched a mostly-boring seventh, which is exactly what you want from him, particularly as it was pouring rain again by this point in the game. Will Vest’s eighth inning featured a leadoff walk, a double play, and a nice play by Hao-Yu Lee on a grounder deep down the third base line for the third out.
In the ninth Javier Báez singled to start the inning and Kerry Carpenter followed with a walk. Torres singled to right to plate Báez for a 6-1 score. After a double play, Dingler singled to left — his fourth hit of the day — and Torres tried to score all the way from first, but someone forgot to tell Torres how short that left field is and he was thrown out at the plate trying to score. Hey, the ball was sure to be wet, why not force the throw?
Connor Seabold came on for the last three outs; he gave up an infield single to Abreu, who advanced to second on defensive indifference and scored on a double by Caleb Durbin. A routine grounder to second ended things, and both teams went to their clubhouses to dry off a bit. Good win over one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the Tigers take a 2-1 lead in the series heading into Monday’s odd 11:05 am ET conclusion to this four-game set.
Final score: Tigers 6, Red Sox 2
Notes and Notices
- The word crochet is the French word for “hook.” So, if you buy a crochet hook, you’re buying a hook hook, and this has been Languages Corner with JT.
- The series finale goes Monday at 11:10 am EDT due to Patriots’ Day in Boston. The game is meant to coorindate with the running of the Boston Marathon.
- On this day in 1810, the people of Venezuela overthrew the governor that had been appointed by Spain so they could rule the place themselves. And that was the last time anything interesting happened with the government of that country.
