Archives for April 17, 2026

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox game was being televised by Apple TV and the NBA Playoffs were on Amazon Prime. Just what’s a sports fan without a Smart TV to do?

Pro lacrosse on ESPNU? College lacrosse on the Big Ten Network? Women’s pro ice hockey on NESN, not NESN+ or some other outlet to make room for the Red Sox. College baseball is on the ACC Network and the Big Ten Network, too.

Then, there’s always WEEI-Radio, 93.7 on your FM dial. All you would’ve heard is silence, as in three-up, three-down.

The fact of the matter is that you could’ve gone nine full innings and witnessed a grand total of seven hits, three by the Tigers and four by the Sox.

Many a baseball eye might’ve thought it was a classic pitcher’s dual, but neither lefty Ranger Suarez of the Sox, nor righty Casey Mize of Detroit looked particularly sharp. But they were both quite efficient.

What could be said is that both teams played a strong defensive game, including Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela gunning down Detroit DH Jahmai Jones with a perfect throw to second to nip Jones’ effort to stretch a base hit to a double in thje top of the first inning. Or, a nifty 6-4-3 double-play by the Tigers in the home half of the fourth inning, cutting down Boston’s Trevor Story and the heart of the Sox line-up just before they could place a rally cap on Sox guest legend Jonny Gomes who was in the ballpark to soak up some suds and some cheers.

With two gone and one on (Jarren Duran infield hit), Mize, the Tigers’ starter, gave way to reliever Kyle Finnegan who retired the side on a ground ball to third (Hao-Yu Lee) and a major league scoop by first baseman Spencer Torkelson to keep the goose eggs fresh on the old school Monster scoreboard.

Mize departed with 6.2 IP, allowing three hits, no runs, while walking one batter and striking out seven. He threw 94 pitches (58 strikes) in the game.

Suarez, the Sox starter, went 8.0 IP, allowing only two hits and no runs while walking one and striking out four Detroit batters. Suarez threw 93 pitches with 55 for strikes before giving way to Sox closer Aroldis Chapman who entered the game in the top of the ninth with the score still blank.

Finnegan kept us awake long enough to give way to lefty Brant Hurter in the bottom of the eighth with two out and one on base (Conner Wong walk), and Hurter retired Roman Anthony on a drive to left center. No score through eight full innings.

Chapman held his own, although he did face clean-up hitter in catcher Dillon Dingler with men on second and third and two out. Chapman struck out Dingler to retire the side and turn the game over to the Red Sox offense in the bottom of the ninth to no avail.

Free baseball placed the phantom runner (Dingler) on second base, and he tagged-up on a fly ball to right by pinch hitter Riley Greene, but the Tigers bats stalled and reliever Garrett Whitlock retired three straight batters to send it to the home 10th with the Sox phantom runner, the speedy Jarren Duran, on second base and Rafaela at bat.

With a 2-2 count, Duran advanced to third base on a wild pitch by reliever Will Vest, giving the Red Sox the golden opportunity to win the game.

Rafaela struck out.

Sox second baseman Marcelo Mayer, facing the Tigers’ infield of five players, drew a walk, and Boston manager sent pinch hitter Masataka Yoshida to the plate, first and third with only one out. The Tigers kept five infielder close and two outfielders stationed in left center and right center field.

Yoshida slapped a base hit over the first baseman’s head and it rolled slowly towards the right field wall, a walk-off single and game-winning RBI to score Duran.

Boston took the first game of the four game series, 1-0.

 

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – It is not about how you start, right? The Boston Red Sox are hoping that is the case for the first month of the long and winding Major League Baseball season.

Following Wednesday’s series-closing win at the Minnesota Twins, Boston kicks off a challenging seven-game homestand against the surging Detroit Tigers on Friday night. The four-game set extends through Monday’s traditional 11:05 a.m. start on the Patriots’ Day holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

“We’re (three) weeks into the season, and we feel like we haven’t played anywhere close to our best baseball. And it could be way worse,” shortstop Trevor Story said. “Once we get rolling and once we get to doing the things that we know we can do on a consistent basis, we’re excited about that.”

The Red Sox were on the verge of being swept in Minnesota, falling down 1-0 in the first inning before scoring the next nine runs on the way to the 9-5 victory. Story hit a three-run home run and drove in five, while Andruw Monasterio went 3-for-5.

Connelly Early backed it all up with six innings of one-run pitching, and now Boston will turn the ball to left-hander Ranger Suarez (1-1, 5.02 ERA) for Friday’s start.

Suarez looks to build off his best performance in a Red Sox uniform last Saturday at St. Louis, as he allowed just three hits and struck out six while shutting out the Cardinals through six innings.

“He moved the ball around,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It seems like his arm was a lot quicker than the first two (starts). It tells me he feels better.”

Suarez made starts for the Philadelphia Phillies against Detroit in each of the last two seasons. He went 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA across a combined 13 innings.

Meanwhile, Detroit hopes to bottle up its recent success as winners of six straight games, including a 10-9 comeback victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Thursday. An up-and-down season has seen the Tigers go from 4-4 to 4-9 and back above the .500 mark to 10-9.

Riley Greene’s two-out, two-run double tied the score and Colt Keith’s walk-off single capped a three-run rally in the ninth inning to seal their third straight one-run win.

“Part of our DNA is our willingness to do anything, but the other part that comes with that is we’re going to play ‘til the end. We’ve had to do that,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “These are funky wins with one run, or coming up late. … Our guys play all 27 outs.”

The Tigers, who banged out a season-high 14 hits, held a 6-1 lead after five innings before the Royals posted a six-run seventh. The game also included nearly two hours of rain delays.

Dillon Dingler hit a two-run homer — his team-leading fourth of the season — in the fifth, while Greene’s heroic swing capped a 3-for-4 day.

“We’re being clutch on both sides, with our pitching and hitting, but we’re playing really clean, good baseball right now,” Keith said. “We’re showing it on the scorecard. We’re winning.”

Like Suarez, Detroit starter Casey Mize (1-1, 3.94) is also coming off his first win of the season after throwing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to beat the Miami Marlins last Saturday. He struck out five.

Mize is 0-1 with a 3.95 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox. He struck out eight in a 6 1/3-inning road no-decision on Sept. 26 of last season.

Detroit has won the last two season series.

–Field Level Media