Struggles on the mound and a late-game collapse cost Detroit a chance at a series win in a 8-6 loss to Boston on Monday at Fenway Park.
Tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the seventh, Detroit turned to Tyler Holton on the mound after Brant Hurter had thrown some long relief for Jack Flaherty.
With one out and the bases loaded, Ceddanne Rafaela sliced a single into right field off Holton, easily plating two runs. Boston tried to plate a third, as Colt Keith bobbled the outfield throw at first. But Keith collected the ball in foul territory and turned and threw out the runner attempting to score at home.
But shortly after, on a ground ball up the middle, Gleyber Torres delivered a low throw that Keith couldn’t pick at first base. It trickled past him to the wall in foul territory. Carlos Narvaez got credit for a single as Rafaela scored.
The Tigers failed to climb out of that 6-3 hole, and then went down, 8-3, on a two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Tigers pitching staff collectively surrendered eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits and gave up eight walks to seven strikeouts. Detroit also committed one error but it could’ve been more.
Boston scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning to open the scoring, benefitting from a Flaherty error to help plate the first.
With runners on the corners, Boston ran a squeeze play and Flaherty fielded the bunt down the third-base line. But he turned and threw back to third base, missing the throw for an error as the run scored and everyone advanced.
Flaherty would walk in another run later in the inning, and finished going 3.1 innings with six walks and three strikeouts.
Hurter came on in relief for Detroit and pitched through the sixth inning, giving up one run and leaving the game tied, 3-3.
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Detroit had managed to go ahead, 3-2, by virtue of runs scored in the third, fourth and sixth innings. The game-tying run also came via the first career major league hit for Hao-Yu Lee, coming up with an RBI in the fourth inning.
Entering the top of the sixth inning tied, 2-2, Detroit got runners on first and second when Jahmai Jones blooped a single into center field that scored Riley Greene from second base for the lead and advanced Dillon Dingler to third.
But despite that hit coming with no outs, Detroit couldn’t press the advantage and went to the dugout leading 3-2, and the Red Sox managed to tie the game against Hurter in the bottom half of the inning to send it to the seventh tied, 3-3.
A ninth-inning rally made it respectable, but the damage had been done as the Tigers split the four-game series.
▶ Series: Three games, Tuesday-Thursday, Comerica Park, Detroit
▶ First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 6:40 p.m., 1:10 p.m. Thursday
▶ Series probables: Tuesday — LHP Kyle Harrison (1-1, 3.07 ERA) vs RHP Keider Montero (1-1, 3.31); Wednesday — RHP Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.95) vs. RHP Casey Mize (1-1, 2.78); Thursday — RHP Brandon Sproat (0-1, 6.88) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (3-2, 2.08)
▶ Harrison, Brewers: Formerly a top pitching prospect in the Giants organization, Harrison brings a hard fastball — tops out around 96 — with run that he compliments with a sharp slider. And all this comes from a lowered arm slot to make things that much more deceptive. He hasn’t been dominant in 2026 in a handful of starts, but the stuff is very real with his top two pitches.
▶ Montero, Tigers: Montero has basically been the sixth man for Detroit’s pitching rotation for the better part of the last season and change. He dazzled with his best start of the season in a win versus Miami last weekend and pitched through some traffic for a win against Kansas City last week. The Tigers see potential in Montero and when his mix of five pitches are working, it’s easy to see why.