Red Sox 10, Tigers 3

 

Back-to-back wins! One more win and the Sox will have their first series sweep of the season!

Ceddanne Rafaela homered in the first last night, a three-run blast into deep right center. He also hit an RBI single in the third, followed by RBI base hits by Montesario, Durbin, Wong, and Kiner-Falefa to make it 8-2, Red Sox.

The real fun began in the fourth though, when Contreras and Abreu hit back-to-back homers. Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez was clearly frustrated and deliberately hit Trevor Story with a fastball on the next at-bat, clearing both benches. Both bullpens, too, but actual fighting never occurred - this is baseball, not ice hockey. Valdez was ejected and will probably be suspended for at least seven days.    

Lost in all the excitement over Valdez' theatrics was the fact that Brayan Bello, who replaced starter Jovani Moran after one inning, pitched a pretty good game, getting seven Ks over seven innings while giving up only one run, and earning his second win of the season. Is he over his early season struggles and back in the groove? Only time will tell.

One win, or even two back-to-back wins, doesn't change anything - the Sox are still 10 games back from first and one behind both Toronto and Baltimore - but at least their win-loss record (15-21) is better than that of the Astros and the Angels, or over in the National League, than the Mets, the Giants, and the Rockies.   

Adding to the miseries, the Injured List keeps on growing. The Red Sox now have starting pitchers Garrett Crochet and Kutter Crawford on the 15-day list, and Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval are on the 60-day list. Ranger Suarez is day-to-day with a hamstring issue. As for batters, Roman Anthony is also day-to-day with a wrist injury and both first-basemen Tristan Casas and Romy Gonzalez are on the 60-day list. 

Sonny Gray, who hasn't pitched since April 20, may start tonight. In that last start, a home game against Detroit, Gray left after 2⅔ innings with a hamstring pull, but had first managed to get two strikeouts off the Tigers. He's a career 5-2 against Detroit with 65 strikeouts over ten games. 

Whoever starts today will be facing the Tigers' Jack Flaherty (0-2, 5.90). The Red Sox tagged Flaherty with three hits and two runs in that April 20th game from which Gray had to step down, so statistically, Boston has a chance of completing their first series sweep of the season.