Eduardo Rodriguez tagged as Detroit Tigers lose to Boston Red Sox, 6-3: Game thread recap
Detroit Tigers (53-64) vs Boston Red Sox (61-56)
When: 12:05 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Fenway Park in Boston.
TV: Peacock (online only; no Bally Sports Detroit broadcast).
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit; Tigers radio affiliates).
Probable pitchers: Tigers LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (8-5, 2.75 ERA) vs. Red Sox RHP Kutter Crawford (5-6, 3.80 ERA).
Tigers lineup:
1. LF Akil Baddoo
2. CF Riley Greene
4. RF Kerry Carpenter
5. 1B Spencer Torkelson
6. 2B Zach McKinstry
7. DH Miguel Cabrera
8. SS Zack Short
9. C Jake Rogers
Game notes: The Tigers go for the series win after Saturday's long ball display in a 6-2 win. Now, It’s time to dig out that Peacock login and password from where you dumped it in the junk drawer — I KNOW it was here, right between the Crazy Glue and that old bike lock I lost the key to! — or wherever you stored it, as the Tigers get a 12:05 p.m. start at Fenway Park against the Red Sox in a game that’s online-only. (Early starts in BAW-STUNNN: A subtle ad push for Dunkin’, or just MLB’s eternal chase for a bigger TV payout?)
Lefty Eduardo Rodriguez takes the mound for the Tigers, bringing a 4.01 ERA over his past six starts (since returning from the IL on July 5) into his hunt for his ninth win of the season. If he gets it, he’ll be the first Tiger to win nine games since Matthew Boyd reached nine wins (and only nine — no Tiger has won 10 games since Michael Fulmer and Justin Verlander did it in 2017) in both 2018 and 2019.
This will be E-Rod’s second start against the franchise he spent six seasons with; he allowed seven runs in an April 2022 start at Comerica Park, though only two were earned. Only two Red Sox starters from that game are still in Boston red and white (or yellow and blue, based on their uniform choices for the first two games of the series): third baseman Rafael Devers (who went 1-for-3 vs. E-Rod) and outfielder Alex Verdugo (who had a walk and a sac fly in two plate appearances).
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Opposing him will be righty Kutter Crawford (middle name: Martin), who throws his, yes, cutter 30.1% of the time (just less than his four-seam fastball, at 38.8%) — no surprise for a pitcher whose fastball spin rate ranks in the 90th percentile this season. Crawford started against the Tigers during the Red Sox’s April 2023 visit to Comerica Park, holding Detroit to one run on five hits and no walks, with six strikeouts over five innings. That day, he threw just 65 pitches, with an equal number (20) of cutters and four-seamers. Of those four-seamers, 15 went for strikes — seven foul balls, four whiffs, two called strikes, one hit and one out. His cutter was much less in the zone, with half going for balls.
The Tigers have Monday off before starting a two-game series against the Twins in Minnesota — their final series of the year against the AL Central leaders (yes, still) — on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Red Sox, meanwhile, get Monday off before heading to Washington to face the NL East cellar dwellers for three games (Tuesday-Thursday).
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose to Boston Red Sox, 6-3: Game thread recap
