BOSTON — The Red Sox have had trouble getting their hitting and pitching on the same page lately.
On the heels of Monday night’s 4-2 loss, the Red Sox’s offense came up big Tuesday at Fenway Park with eight runs on eight hits.
But that still wasn’t enough, as the Detroit Tigers roughed up starter Steven Wright for eight runs and squeaked an extra run off Boston’s bullpen to hand the Sox a 9-8 defeat.
Boston has lost four of its last five games, and all of those losses have been by two runs or fewer. Here’s how this one went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Slugfest.
The Red Sox came back from four-run and three-run deficits, amassed eight hits and two homers — and still lost. The Tigers bashed 13 hits and went 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position to get the last laugh.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Robbie Ross Jr. walked Tigers outfielder Tyler Collins with the bases loaded in the seventh.
Ross’ free pass allowed Detroit to take a 9-8 lead after squandering two big advantages, and they were able to hold onto this one for good.
ON THE BUMP
— Wright suffered through the worst outing of his big league career.
The Tigers got to him early, as Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Jose Iglesias and Collins tallied RBI singles in the second.
The knuckleballer fully imploded in the fifth, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks and being chased after Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s two-out, two-RBI single.
Wright allowed a career-high eight earned runs on nine hits in just 4 2/3 innings. He walked three, struck out two and threw one wild pitch.
— Ross recorded the final out of the fifth, pitched a clean sixth and recorded the first two outs of the seventh. Then things went off the rails, as the left-hander hit a batter, allowed a single and issued back-to-back walks to allow the go-ahead run to score.
Ross allowed one run on two hits over two innings, striking out one, walking two and hitting a batter.
— Joe Kelly came in with the bases loaded in the seventh and threw exactly one pitch, getting Ian Kinsler to line out to center field.
— Junichi Tazawa walked one batter in an otherwise clean eighth.
— Tommy Layne allowed two hits in the ninth but escaped unscathed, as Justin Upton was thrown out trying to advance to third after a leadoff double.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— David Ortiz brought the Red Sox’s offense to life in the third with a majestic three-run home run into Detroit’s bullpen. It was his 25th homer of the season and 528th of his career.
He couldn’t deliver in the ninth, however, grounding into a game-ending double play while representing the go-ahead run.
— The Sox added two more runs in the fourth on an RBI grounder from Brock Holt and a Mookie Betts RBI double that gave Boston a 5-4 lead at the time.
— Betts had a solid bounce-back night, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, one RBI and a run scored.
— Jackie Bradley Jr. went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a blasted his 16th homer of the season in the sixth inning, a solo shot to right-center field.
— Dustin Pedroia delivered a bases-loaded, RBI single in the sixth and now has reached base in 29 consecutive games.
— Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-3 but reached base four times and beat out a potential double play ball in the sixth to drive home the game-tying run at the time.
— Catcher Sandy Leon went 0-for-3 as a fill-in for late scratch Ryan Hanigan. He also was hit in the foot in the sixth inning but stayed in the game.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Ortiz’s heroics at Fenway pretty much are a nightly occurrence at this point.
UP NEXT
Eduardo Rodriguez will take ball Wednesday for Boston for an afternoon start in the teams’ season finale. Detroit will counter with rookie right-hander Michael Fulmer. First pitch at Fenway is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images