Craig Kimbrel recorded a four-out save and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tigers 3-2 at Comerica Park.
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Will the Boston Red Sox pick up another win tonight when they face the Detroit Tigers at 7:10PM ET? Porcello only allowed two runs and the Sox offense scored him 4 in the 1st inning alone. Jackie Bradley Jr. then hit a 2 run homer of his own. On Friday, their stud rookie Michael Fulmer also struggled, which led to a blowout.
Ortiz reached 1,500 RBIs with the Red Sox.
And yet the Red Sox tagged him for ten hits and a career-high six runs in 5.2 innings, yanking the otherworldly rookie back down to earth. “We wanted to attack him right away”.
“That meant a lot to me, because those two guys are brothers to me – they are family”, Ortiz said.
James McCann and J.D. Martinez homered for the Tigers, who have lost 10 of 13.
“He was bound to have an outing like this at some point”, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “I’ve gone through this every year of my career – 25 years now. You have ups and downs”. Pomeranz has started to come around for Boston and their hitting is just more reliable right now. “It’s always easier to pitch with a cushion, especially against that offense”.
“It was fun. Honestly”, Porcello said in his usual low-key way. “That’s a good-hitting team, and I think they just had our number tonight”. “It was still weird being on the opposite side, though”.
The former first-round draft pick, acquired by the Tigers in a trade-deadline deal with the New York Mets last season, recovered after the first inning, but ran into trouble again in the sixth, when four consecutive two-out singles ended his night.
“I’ve faced them before and we won that game so I was just looking to do the same thing and try to repeat”.
Porcello (17-3) gave up two runs – one earned – four hits and two walks while striking out eight.
Fulmer had success against him previously – Ortiz went 0-for-3 against Fulmer in his only previous start against the Red Sox, July 27 in Boston – but employing the same approach Friday did not elicit similar results.
Bradley gave Boston a four-run lead with the second two-run homer of the first inning, but Martinez pulled the Tigers within 4-2 with his two-run shot in the second.
Both pitchers settled down after that, and the score didn’t change until the sixth.
The Tigers put their first two runners on in the bottom of the fifth, but McCann hit into a double play and Andrew Romine grounded out.
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Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (hamstring) threw in the bullpen Friday and remains on pace to start Sunday’s series finale.
