G5: Red Sox 5, Tigers 3

Red Sox - 000 003 020 - 5  9  1
Tigers  - 003 000 000 - 3  5  1

The Red Sox showed some moxie™ on Tuesday afternoon in Detroit. They fell behind 0-3 and their first 10 batters were retired. But they rallied, tying the game in the sixth and adding two more runs in the eighth. Garrett Whitlock pitched the final four innings, allowing no hits and only one baserunner.

Through four games, the Red Sox were batting poorly: .173/.243/.308 (59 OPS+). With RATS, it was even worse: .107/.182/.143. 3-for-28. And with two outs, it was still worse: 1-for-37 (.027), though they did have six walks.

In Tuesday's win over the Tigers, the Red Sox were 3-for-11 with two outs (and 5-for-12 with RATS).

The top of the order set the pace. Rafael Devers went 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in two runs. Kiké Hernández doubled twice, walked, and scored two runs. The lineup's top four batters went 7-for-16.

The Tigers knocked Rich Hill (4.2-5-3-1-4, 70) around in the third, two doubles and two singles producing three runs.

Boston got its first baserunners in the fourth, when Devers and Xander Bogaerts singled off Tyler Alexander (5.1-5-3-0-4, 73) with one out, but J.D. Martinez hit into a double play. In the sixth, Kevin Plawecki singled and was bunted to second. Kike Hernandez doubled to right for one run. Devers singled Hernandez home. The Tigers made a pitching change and Jacob Barnes threw a wild pitch. Bogaerts made the second out, but Martinez doubled to right (the call was upheld after a challenge from the Tigers) to tie the game.

At that point, Whitlock (4-0-0-1-2, 39) took over on the mound for the visitors. He issued a one-out walk in the sixth, but ended up setting down the final 11 Detroit batters. (The Tigers last hit of the game came with two outs in the fourth inning.)

Alex Speier, Globe: Whitlock "joins Rick Porcello and Ryan Weber as the only Red Sox pitchers in the last 10 seasons (2013-22) to average fewer than 10 pitches per inning in an outing of 4+ innings".

Hernandez singled to start the top of the eighth and advanced to second on another wild pitch. Devers singled to center, giving Boston a 4-3 lead; he took second on a fielding error. Bogaerts tapped back to the pitcher. Martinez walked. Will Vest (All-Clothing Team?) came in and struck out Dalbec, but Christian Arroyo (who started in right in place of Jackie Bradley (who is now 0-for-10)) singled to left to make it 5-3.