Red Sox Wrap: Boston Bats Make Shaky Tigers Pitchers Pay In Thumping

The Boston Red Sox earned an early series victory Saturday afternoon, grabbing a 14-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Boston improved to 4-4 on the campaign, while Detroit fell to 2-6.

You can check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Red Sox lineup put together a pretty normal box score Saturday, scoring 14 runs on a grand total of 12 hits. It wasn’t always so normal, however.

In fact, Saturday marked just the second time in Major League Baseball history that a team reached the eight-run mark on just three hits, doing so by the middle of the third inning. As you can imagine, the Red Sox got some help from Tigers pitching in the win, so much help that they might have to fill out some thank you cards before they leave Detroit.

The Tigers walked in the first two runs of the game, before Rafael Devers made them pay with a grand slam in the second inning. The end total would wind up being six walks through four innings, which is the most taken by Boston in a four-inning stretch since the 2019 season.

The early lead never quite dwindled as the Red Sox added on late, putting manager Alex Cora’s dreams of making consistent contact on full display. It got so ugly that we saw our first position player pitching appearance of the season, with Detroit utility fielder Zach McKinstry taking the mound.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Devers launched two home runs in this one, including the Red Sox’s first grand slam of the season, to double his season total of homers to four. He finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with the homers and five total RBIs.

— Tanner Houck was solid again in his second start of the season, pushing his record to 2-0 on the season. The 26-year-old allowed two runs on three hits, striking out four batters on the day.

— Adam Duvall improved his American League-leading batting average to .483, smacking another home run and two doubles. He leads the AL in average, extra-base hits and RBIs.

WAGER WATCH
Duvall’s home run odds will only continue to dwindle. The 34-year-old entered Saturday leading the AL in batting average and RBIs, and added home runs to that list with his fourth jack of the young season. It wasn’t all that surprising to DraftKings Sportsbook, however, as they gave him +175 odds entering the night.

The third-inning blast netted $275 payouts for $100 bettors.

ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox will return to Comerica Park to wrap up the three-game set Sunday. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET and you can watch it on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.