Red Sox Notes: Boston Follows Ideal Pitching Blueprint In Win

The Boston Red Sox surged for a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers to take the series Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.

While the bats did their part by smashing 12 hits in the victory, the Red Sox pitching staff showed encouraging signs in the series finale.

Kutter Crawford took the ball looking to shake up a stretch in which Boston lost three of his last four outings. The right-hander featured a sharp knucklecurve and played up in the strike zone to attack Detroit hitters.

Alex Cora pulled Crawford after just 4 2/3 innings, but the young starter pitched well with just two earned runs allowed on three hits along with two strikeouts.

Garrett Whitlock also made his long-awaited return to the staff after missing nearly five weeks with an elbow injury. The former Rule 5 draft pick made his way back to the bullpen where he shined in 2021. Whitlock did allow a run over two innings but showed encouraging velocity with his fastball up to 97 mph to pair with good movement on his off-speed pitches.

While he did allow an uncharacteristic string of hits in the eighth inning, Chris Martin tossed a scoreless frame to continue a run of 24 outings with just a single run allowed dating back to June 9.

Kenley Jansen nailed down his 27th save of the season, facing just four batters in the ninth.

Sunday’s victory presented a pitching blueprint that Boston hopes to follow down the stretch in a playoff push: around five solid innings from the starter followed by a stable bridge to the incredibly-consistent pair of former Dodgers in Martin and Jansen to close out wins.

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Here are more notes from Sunday’s Tigers-Red Sox game:

— The Red Sox move to 2 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card race.

— Trevor Story tallied his first four-hit game since May 19, 2022 when he hit three home runs against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park. The shortstop clobbered three doubles and also stole two bases.

— The Red Sox move to 10-2 this season when wearing their yellow “City Connect” uniforms and 25-6 all-time since the start of 2021.

— Boston earned its 20th day-game win of 2023. It also moved to 48-3 in games when leading after six innings.

—The Red Sox hit the road to start a three-game series with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.