Final, Red Sox 5-3: Xander Bogaerts made a couple of nice defensive plays in the ninth inning, and Koji Uehara closed out the Red Sox’s 5-3 win.
David Ortiz’s three-run homer in the ninth inning off Joba Chamberlain was the difference. Boston snapped its five-game losing streak in a big way.
The Red Sox trailed 3-2 entering the ninth inning. Brock Holt sparked a rally with a leadoff single into center field, and Dustin Pedroia added to the threat with a one-out walk. Ortiz then provided the heroics, absolutely crushing a ball into the right field seats.
Holt went 4-for-5 atop the order and also made a nice defensive play in his first ever game in left field. Mike Napoli collected three hits and reached base four times in his first game back off the disabled list.
John Lackey went eight innings to earn the victory. He gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out five and walking one.
The Red Sox now head to Baltimore, where they will look to begin a winning streak against the Orioles. Jake Peavy will take the ball for Boston in Monday’s series opener.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 5-3: David Ortiz lives for the big moment.
Ortiz absolutely crushed a three-run homer off Joba Chamberlain with one out in the ninth inning to give the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. Boston now is three outs away from snapping its five-game losing streak in dramatic fashion.
Brock Holt sparked the ninth-inning rally with a leadoff single into center field. Dustin Pedroia then worked a one-out walk before Ortiz jacked a towering blast well into the right field seats.
Koji Uehara will look to close this one out.
End 8th, Tigers 3-2: John Lackey has gone eight innings for the second straight start. If the Red Sox don’t produce at least one run, he’ll also lose for the second straight start.
Lackey worked a scoreless eighth inning. The Red Sox will now face Joba Chamberlain in the ninth inning, as Tigers manager Brad Ausmus is opting to hold out closer Joe Nathan. Nathan has struggled of late and labored through the ninth inning Saturday.
The top of the Red Sox’s order — Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia — are due up in the ninth inning.
Mid 8th, Tigers 3-2: The Red Sox left the potential tying run on third base in the eighth inning.
Mike Napoli led off with a sharply hit grounder to the left side. It ate up third baseman Nick Castellanos, and Napoli was awarded his second hit of the game.
Napoli took off for second base on a surprising hit-and-run attempt. A.J. Pierzynski swung and missed, but Napoli successfully swiped the bag.
After Pierzynski grounded to third base, Daniel Nava grounded to short, at which point Napoli took third.
Red Sox manager John Farrell turned to his bench and called upon the switch-hitting Jonathan Herrera to pinch-hit for Stephen Drew against left-hander Phil Coke. Coke hit Herrera in the leg.
Jackie Bradley Jr. stepped up and battled, but Coke ultimately put him away with high heat.
It was surprising to see Farrell turn to his bench against Coke and not call upon Jonny Gomes. Presumably, Farrell figured the Tigers immediately would have countered with a right-hander. Gomes has struggled against righties all season.
End 7th, Tigers 3-2: Xander Bogaerts’ first error at third base this season was a big one.
Nick Castellanos led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a bloop single into center field. Castellanos continues to swing a hot bat.
Austin Jackson followed with a ground ball down the third base line. Xander Bogaerts tried to rush the play despite having no chance to turn two with Jackson running. The ball popped out of Bogaerts’ glove and rolled away, allowing both Jackson and Castellanos to reach their intended destinations.
John Lackey struck out Alex Avila for the first out, but rookie Eugenio Suarez singled into left field to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Suarez has given the Red Sox fits in this series.
The Red Sox escaped any further damage by turning a double play. Rajai Davis hit a soft ground ball to second base, where Dustin Pedroia made the play and tagged Suarez before tossing to first base.
Mike Napoli, A.J. Pierzynski and Daniel Nava are due up for Boston in the eighth inning. Phil Coke, who retired David Ortiz to end the top of the seventh inning, will come back out.
Mid 7th, 2-2: Phil Coke continued his dominance of David Ortiz in the seventh inning. Big Papi stranded runners at the corners.
Lefty Ian Krol replaced Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez in the seventh inning. Krol struck out Jackie Bradley Jr., but Brock Holt lined a ball into the right field corner. Holt, who now has three hits, cruised his way into third base with a standup triple.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus turned to Evan Reed. Xander Bogaerts smoked a ground ball to the left side that third baseman Nick Castellanos laid out to stop. Castellanos popped up and fired across the diamond to retire Bogaerts while Holt remained at third base.
Dustin Pedroia walked on four pitches, after which Ausmus called upon Coke. Ortiz was 2-for-20 in his career including the postseason against Coke before the seventh-inning at-bat. Coke retired Ortiz on a fly ball to deep center field.
End 6th, 2-2: The Tigers lost Miguel Cabrera.
Cabrera smacked a two-out single into left field in the sixth inning. He came up lame immediately after leaving the box, and the Tigers wasted no time in removing the reigning American League MVP from the ballgame.
The word from the Tigers is that Cabrera left the game with hamstring tightness. He’s listed as day-to-day.
Don Kelly replaced Cabrera at first base. Victor Martinez followed with a walk.
John Lackey escaped the inning with the game still tied by retiring Torii Hunter on a 6-4 forceout.
Mid 6th, 2-2:Â Mike Napoli hasn’t skipped a beat.
Napoli lifted a solo home run into the right field seats in the sixth inning. He went the other way with an 0-1 fastball from Anibal Sanchez.
A.J. Pierzynski reached on an error by third baseman Nick Castellanos. It looked like Pierzynski would move up to second base with two outs after Stephen Drew grounded out. The Tigers caught Pierzynski slipping at second base, though, and the Red Sox catcher was tagged out between second and third.
End 5th, Tigers 2-1: John Lackey tossed a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
Austin Jackson and Eugenio Suarez grounded out to Xander Bogaerts at third base in the fifth. Alex Avila struck out looking in between the two groundouts.
Lackey put away Avila with a 93 mph fastball.
Mid 5th, Tigers 2-1: Brock Holt has two more hits in this game.
Holt led off the fifth inning with a single into right field. The Red Sox couldn’t do anything with it, but it’s clear that bouncing around the diamond isn’t affecting Holt offensively.
Xander Bogaerts struck out swinging and Dustin Pedroia flied out to center field. Holt took second base on Anibal Sanchez’s wild pitch with Pedroia batting.
David Ortiz had a chance to tie the game, but he drilled a line drive right at third baseman Nick Castellanos for the inning’s final out. Ortiz has left three men on base.
End 4th, Tigers 2-1: Leave it to the big guns to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Miguel Cabrera led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double down the right field line. Victor Martinez then jumped on John Lackey’s first pitch of his at-bat and singled into right field.
Torii Hunter grounded into a double play and Nick Castellanos flied out to right field. But Detroit now holds an edge.
Mid 4th, 1-1: The Red Sox threatened in the fourth inning.
A.J. Pierzynski lifted a fly ball down the left field line with one out. Rajai Davis chased it near the line and went into a slide. The ball dropped in fair territory and bounced up into the stands for a ground-rule double.
Daniel Nava followed with a single into center field, putting runners at the corners with one out.
Anibal Sanchez escaped the jam by striking out Stephen Drew and Jackie Bradley Jr.
End 3rd, 1-1: The Tigers tied things up in the third inning, but it was Brock Holt who stole the show.
Austin Jackson led off with a single into right field. The Tigers quickly put the wheels in motion, as Jackson swiped second base with Alex Avila batting to move up into scoring position.
Eugenio Suarez, who homered off Jon Lester for his first major league hit Saturday, ripped a one-out, RBI single into left field.
Rajai Davis grounded into a forceout but quickly stole second base. Davis now has 17 steals this season.
Ian Kinsler threatened to give the Tigers a lead with a fly ball to deep left field. Holt, playing in the outfield for the first time in his professional career, raced back to make a running grab before banging hard into the fence.
Evidently, Holt can do it all.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: Anibal Sanchez is lucky to only surrender one run in the third inning.
Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt produced back-to-back singles with one out. Sanchez then jumped ahead of Xander Bogaerts 0-2, but the 21-year-old worked a seven-pitch walk to load the bases for Dustin Pedroia.
Pedroia, who on Friday vowed to get “hotter than Tent City,” lifted a fly ball to center field. Bradley easily trotted home with the game’s first run.
David Ortiz dug in with a chance to do some damage, but Sanchez managed to put Papi away with a 3-2 slider down and out of the zone.
Sanchez has thrown 65 pitches through three innings.
End 2nd, 0-0: John Lackey has been much more efficient than Anibal Sanchez in the early going.
Lackey has thrown 22 pitches (15 strikes) while working two scoreless frames. Victor Martinez, Torii Hunter and Nick Castellanos went down in order in the second.
Lackey struck out Hunter for the second out. It marked the right-hander’s first K of the evening.
Castellanos grounded to the left side. Shortstop Stephen Drew actually dived in the hole as Xander Bogaerts routinely handled it for the inning’s final out.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Anibal Sanchez has kept the Red Sox off the scoreboard through two innings, but his pitch count already is up to 43.
David Ortiz flied out to shallow center field to lead off the second inning. He got under a 2-2 fastball.
Mike Napoli saw nine pitches and walked in his first at-bat since May 23. Looks like nothing’s changed.
A.J. Pierzynski and Daniel Nava flied out to right field and center field, respectively.
End 1st, 0-0: John Lackey, like Anibal Sanchez, began his night with a scoreless first inning.
Rajai Davis, Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera went down in order.
Davis and Kinsler both put the ball in the air. Davis lined to center field. Kinsler sent one toward the right field gap that Daniel Nava tracked down.
Xander Bogaerts made a nice pick down at third base on a hot shot from Cabrera. Mike Napoli came off the first base bag to field Bogaerts’ throw and tag Cabrera.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Anibal Sanchez kicked off his outing with a 1-2-3 first inning in which he struck out two.
Brock Holt led off the game with a ground ball to second base. Holt put up a good at-bat, though, making Sanchez toss seven pitches.
Sanchez struck out Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia to cap his first inning. Bogaerts went down swinging at a slider. Pedroia was frozen by a 2-2 sinker.
8:08 p.m.: Brock Holt digs in. Let’s roll.
6:35 p.m.: No surprise here. Mike Napoli will play first base and bat fifth in his return to the Red Sox’s lineup.
Brock Holt, who has played six games at first base in Napoli’s absence, will head out to left field for his first ever action in the outfield. Holt, who started the season as a utility infielder, is beginning to wear more and more hats for Boston as the Red Sox look to keep his hot bat in the starting lineup.
Holt enters Sunday’s game having hit safely in 16 of his last 18 games. He’s hitting .338 (27-for-80) in that span.
Daniel Nava will get the nod in right field for Sunday’s series finale with right-hander Anibal Sanchez toeing the rubber for Detroit. Nava collected three hits and reached base four times in Saturday’s loss.
Sunday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (27-34)
Brock Holt, LF
Xander Bogaerts, 3B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Daniel Nava, RF
Stephen Drew, SS
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
John Lackey, RHP (6-4, 3.28 ERA)
Detroit Tigers (33-25)
Rajai Davis, LF
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
Torii Hunter, RF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Austin Jackson, CF
Alex Avila, C
Eugenio Suarez. SS
Anibal Sanchez, RHP (2-2, 2.15 ERA)
6 p.m. ET: The Boston Red Sox will turn to John Lackey on Sunday as they look to avoid being swept away by the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Red Sox enter Sunday’s series finale having lost five straight. The current skid adds to Boston’s wild ride, which has featured a 10-game losing streak, a seven-game winning streak and now a five-game slide. Each of the Red Sox’s last seven series have ended in sweeps.
The Red Sox will receive some help Sunday, as Mike Napoli returns to the starting lineup after missing the last 14 games. Napoli, who was on the 15-day disabled list with a left fourth finger sprain, hasn’t played since May 23, but the Red Sox certainly could use his right-handed protection behind David Ortiz.
Lackey tossed eight innings in a complete-game effort in his last start against the Cleveland Indians on Monday. He suffered the loss in that game, as Indians starter Justin Masterson held the Red Sox’s offense in check for seven innings. Lackey has pitched very well over his last three starts — holding his opponents scoreless in two of them — but the right-hander enters Sunday’s contest with an 0-4 record and 5.51 ERA in his last five regular-season outings against the Tigers.
Lackey will go up against Anibal Sanchez, who is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA in four starts since returning from the disabled list after battling a blister on his middle finger. Sanchez held the Red Sox to one run over five innings in his first start off the DL on May 18.
Sunday’s nationally televised game is scheduled to get underway at 8:07 p.m. Stick around with NESN.com throughout the evening for updates.
