On a day in which some big, dark, looming injury news was made, some big, dark, looming clouds — literal, not metaphorical — hung over downtown Detroit.
Eventually, those clouds caused a rain delay, but after dodging the drops, the Tigers dropped the opening contest of their three-game home series against the Red Sox, 5-4. It was a somewhat unexpected pitchers’ duel early, but a disastrous outing from the Tiger bullpen erased a slim lead and was their ultimate downfall.
In case you haven’t heard, Tarik
Skubal is going to have surgery for “loose bodies” in his left elbow, which is definitely his more important one. So, taking his place for the latest edition of Pitching Chaos was Tyler Holton, who also started Sunday night, going two-thirds of an inning against the Rangers. The planned bulk-guy tonight was call-up Ty Madden, who missed all of 2025 and had made five starts for Toledo so far this season.
Facing the Tigers was left-hander Payton Tolle; at press time, it had not been determined whether or not he is related to German self-help author Eckhart Tolle. Like Madden, Tolle (Payton, not Eckhart) started the season in Triple-A; he had a handful of appearances with the Red Sox in 2025 and did decently well. Unlike Madden, Tolle played some first base and outfield in college, and appeared as a designated hitter fairly often, clubbing a baker’s dozen home runs in 2023.
Holton had a little traffic on the basepaths as he completed the first inning and then hit the showers. Madden started the second and had a fairly uneventful second inning before getting into a bit of a jam in the third: Zack Short handled an Andruw Monasterio grounder at shortstop, but bounced the throw to first base that Spencer Torkelson couldn’t handle.
Jarren Duran singled to put runners on the corners with none out, and Duran stole second to put a pair of runners into scoring position. But then Willson Contreras struck out, Masataka Yoshida hit a grounder to first and Torkelson threw home to easily get Monasterio, who was running on contact, and Trevor Story struck out swinging. Nice work, Ty!
Tolle, meanwhile, was mowing down Tiger hitters like Jack Leiter was on Sunday night; like Leiter, Tolle retired the first twelve Detroit batsmen. But also like on Sunday night, the spell was broken by an extra-base hit in the fifth: Riley Greene hit a leadoff double. He advanced to third with a one-out Wenceel Perez grounder, but was stranded 90 feet (136 links) from home after Hao-Yu Lee struck out to end the inning.
The Red Sox got two runners on in the top of the sixth as well, through a pair of infield singles to third base. But with two outs, Madden froze Marcelo Mayer on a four-seamer on the outer half of the plate for strike three, and with the rain coming down a little harder, that was likely going to be the end of Madden’s night.
The bottom of the sixth saw the Tigers get on the board in a mostly-empty stadium as fans were told to find cover as inclement weather was about to hit the area (although, perplexingly, the players played on): Colt Keith was nicked by a pitch to lead off, and Jahmai Jones walked to put a pair on. Boston catcher Carlos Nárvaez tried to fire to first to back-pick Jones, but he threw it over Contreras’ head and both runners advanced a base.
Matt Vierling hit a broken-bat bouncer to third; Monasterio’s throw home, from his rear end, was wild and both Keith and Jones scored on the play to put the Tigers up 2-0 without a hit in the inning.
Madden did depart after the end of the sixth, and Ricky Vanasco took over. Madden’s final line: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K.
That’s pretty nice, and definitely nicer than the giant egg Vanasco then proceeded to lay: walk, single, home run, and after a double and a single (including a misplayed fly ball by Pérez), it was 4-2 for Boston and Enmanuel De Jesus had to try to clean up the mess. De Jesus didn’t really fare much better, as Boston tacked on another run with three straight hits for a 5-2 lead.
The rain intensified after one pitch was thrown in the top of the eighth; roughly half an hour later, play resumed and De Jesus seemed to have righted the ship, with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout.
But at least the Tigers narrowed the gap in the bottom of the eighth: a single and a walk sandwiched around a pair of outs put two runners on, and a Dillon Dingler double scored both of ‘em to make it a 5-4 game.
Kenley Jansen, who was on the shelf with a groin/abdomen issue (but didn’t officially join the IL), came on for the top of the ninth. Jansen’s issues lately have been well-documented, so was a bit of rest going to produce results? Well, after a strikeout and a walk, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a liner to Short at short who easily threw to first to double-off Wilyer Abreu, who was running on the pitch; that ended the inning.
Very cautious optimism shall be exercised regarding Jansen going forward.
Another closer who’s been around a block or two, Aroldis Chapman, came into a one-run game. The Tigers couldn’t get anything going against him, and that was that.
Final score: Red Sox 5, Tigers 4
Notes, Reminders and Observances
- It was pointed out in the comments that the Injured List Tigers could field a pretty darn good team: a six-man rotation of Skubal, Verlander, Mize, Olson, Melton and Jobe; a bullpen of Vest, Brieske, Seabold, Miller and Horn; in various places on the field, you’ve got Báez, Sweeney, McKinstry and Meadows. My goodness.
- If you’re Canadian, don’t forget to fill out the census! I got my notice in the mail today. You can fill it out online. Statistics are important.
- On this day in 1886, the Haymarket Affair happened: it was a labour demonstration in Chicago in support of an eight-hour workday. Someone decided to throw a bomb at the police, who returned fire and killed four civilians, and seven police officers died in the melée. I mean, I don’t know much about public gatherings, but throwing a bomb seems like it’s way out of line.
