It was starting to seem like the Red Sox might never score again.
Entering Friday the offense had scored three runs or fewer in six of the team’s last seven games, including a shutout loss Thursday in which the Red Sox were no-hit into the seventh inning. Early on it looked like another one of those nights, as the Red Sox struggled with Detroit Tigers’ starter Kenta Maeda and seemed destined to waste a gem of an outing by Tanner Houck.
Then the bats finally broke out, and the Red Sox never looked back.
Ceddanne Rafaela homered twice as the Red Sox surged for seven unanswered runs in Friday’s 7-3 win over the Tigers. Boston initially broke out for four runs in the bottom of the fourth, and by the end the club had ripped six extra-base hits as a team.
Detroit took an early lead on an RBI single by Gio Urshela in the top of the first, though not without an outstanding effort by Wilyer Abreu to prevent it. The rookie right fielder unleashed a rocket of a throw to home and initially appeared to gun down Riley Greene at the plate, but the call was overturned upon review.
According to MLB.com’s Ian Browne, Abreu’s throw was measured at 100.7 mph, the third hardest throw measured by an outfielder this season.
The Red Sox offense only managed two hits off Maeda through the first three innings, but in the fourth Rafael Devers roped a leadoff double high off the Green Monster to spark what wound up being an avalanche of offense. The double was also Devers’ 423rd career extra-base hit, moving him in front of Hall of Famer Jim Rice for the most in franchise history by a player age 27 or younger.
Dominic Smith followed with an RBI double of his own to tie the game, and then Rafaela hit the first of his two home runs to bust the game open, a three-run shot that carried to the top of the Green Monster.
Rob Refsnyder added an RBI double of his own in the bottom of the fifth, and Rafaela struck again with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth. It was Rafaela’s first career multi-homer game, and he now leads all MLB rookies with 33 RBI and is tied for second with seven home runs.
With some run support in hand Houck made sure to keep the Tigers caged up on the other side. The right-hander held Detroit to just one run on three hits and two walks over seven innings, striking out six in the process. Boston’s defense wasn’t perfect — Rafael Devers and David Hamilton committed errors in the sixth and seventh innings that put runners in scoring position — but Houck was able to work his way out of trouble both times.
Houck was at one point also hit on the forearm by a hard comebacker, a scary moment reminiscent of when Houck was hit in the head by a line drive last summer, but this time he shook it off, got the out at first and stayed in the game.
With his latest performance Houck’s season ERA now stands at 1.85 after 12 starts, and according to the Red Sox he’s only the second pitcher in the Live Ball Era to record an ERA under 2.00, allow one or fewer home runs and post a strikeout to walk ratio of at least 5-to-1 through their first 12 starts of a season. The other was Hall of Famer Greg Maddux in 1997, a year in which he eventually finished second in the NL Cy Young Award voting.
Detroit wound up scoring twice more late on a two-run home run by Colt Keith off Greg Weissert in the top of the eighth, but otherwise the Tigers never seriously threatened again. Justin Slaten finished things off with a scoreless ninth, and he benefitted from a little more help from Rafaela, who made a diving catch on a sinking liner in center for the first out of the inning.
With the win the Red Sox even the four-game series and get back to .500 at 29-29. Boston will aim to make it two straight on Saturday when Cooper Criswell (2-2, 3.96) takes the mound against Detroit’s Reese Olson (1-5, 1.92). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m.
