The Boston Red Sox literally pulled out all the stops to overcome the Detroit Tigers.
Perhaps that’s why Red Sox manager Alex Cora and third baseman Rafael Devers were in a credit-giving mood Tuesday, following Boston’s 5-3 comeback win over Detroit. The Red Sox benefitted from solid starting pitching, better relief pitching and some timely hitting to erase a three-run deficit in the sixth inning and ultimately earn the victory.
Devers went three-for-five, and his two RBIs and two runs scored were key components of Boston’s late rally. However, he was full of praise for pitchers Rich Hill, Hirokazu Sawamura and Garrett Whitlock for keeping Tigers batters in check until their Red Sox counterparts could spring to life.
” … The most-important thing was that we were able to get the win,” Devers said, as seen in NESN’s postgame coverage. “I did well, but the pitching did an outstanding job keeping us in the game, and we were able to pull away and get the win today.”
The Red Sox struggled at the plate Monday in their series-opening loss and in the first five innings of Tuesday’s matchup against the Tigers. Devers praised the team for staying in the game until the offense exploded.
“It’s part of baseball. Obviously there’s gonna be some times where we have some slow stretches (of difficulty), but at the end of the day, we just continue to battle and we want to pull this one off … and we just did everything we had to do in order to get that win.”
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Tigers:
— Right-handed pitcher Whitlock earned the win after walking one and striking out two in four innings of no-hit relief work. He took over for the left-handed Hill, who pitched well, aside from the turbulent third inning.
Afterward Cora, hailed the Hill-Whitlock combination for blunting Detroit’s game plan.
“I think his (Whitlock’s) stuff is that good,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “There’s a reason we like them together. At one point in the offseason, we’re talking about (Chris) Sale and (Tanner) Houck in the same role: lefty, (followed by) righty. They’re gonna load up with with righties against Rich, and he can get them out. Then we’re gonna turn the page to Whitlock and we get a lot of good matches for us.
“So I think both of them they complement each other well. … It’s a good find. It’s just a matter of how long we can do it.”
— Here’s an eye-popping aspect of Tuesday’s Red Sox-Tigers tilt: Detroit youngster Spencer Torkelson notched the first hit of his career off of Hill in the third inning.
Hill was drafted for the first time in 1999, the same year in which Torkelson was born. When asked about that fun fact, Hill, 42, suggested Torkelson, 22, might enjoy a long and prosperous career.
“Happy for him,” Hill said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “That’s pretty amazing. Obviously, he’s going to have a great career. Heck of a player and (I) look forward to probably watching him 20 years from now.”
The Red Sox and Tigers will play the series finale Wednesday. NESN will air the game in full, with pregame coverage starting at noon ET. First pitch from Comerica Park is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
