DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:
TIGERS DROP SERIES OPENER TO RED SOX: The Tigers lost to the Red Sox, 5-2, on Friday night. Kerry Carpenter hit a solo home run, his 13th of the season, while Riley Greene went 1×2 with a RBI. Tarik Skubal started for Detroit and took the loss, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Will Vest, Brendan White and Andrew Vasquez each had scoreless outings in relief.
ROSTER MOVES: The Tigers have announced the following roster moves:
*Following last night’s game, optioned RHP Trey Wingenter to Triple A Toledo
*Reinstated RHP Jason Foley from the bereavement list
CARPENTER NAILS ANOTHER ONE: Kerry Carpenter blasted a solo home run in last night’s game, his 13th of the season. Carpenter extended his hitting streak to a career-best eight games. Over his last 15 games, Carpenter is batting .321/.379/.472 with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBI.
GREENE MACHINE: Riley Greene came off the bench in last night’s game and went 1×2 with a RBI. Greene has hit safely in 47 of his last 58 games, over which he is batting .333/.398/.527 with 17 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 22 RBI. Among American League players with at least 300 plate appearances this season, Greene
ranks sixth with a .302 batting average. Greene also leads all big leaguers age 23-or-younger in wRC+ (135), while he is tied for sixth with 2.4 fWAR.
GET SHORTY: Zack Short drew a pair of walks in last night’s game and has now reached base safely in 13 of his last 17 games. After having an 0x17 skid from July 7-19, Short is batting .382/.462/.588 with four doubles, one home run and 10 RBI since July 22.
COMING THROUGH IN A PINCH: Riley Greene had a pinch-hit RBI single in last night’s game. For the season, Detroit has had a Major League leading 138 plate appearances by pinch hitters. It marks the most pinch-hit appearances for the Tigers since having 170 in 1990.
ON THE ROAD: The Tigers are 0-1 on their current nine-game road trip, which includes three games at Boston (0-1), two games at Minnesota (August 15-16) and four games at Cleveland (August 17- 20). Detroit is 26-31 on the road this season. As a team, the Tigers are hitting .221/.290/.362 away from Comerica Park, while the pitching staff has a 4.24 ERA (492.2IP/232ER).
TIGERS AND RED SOX: The Tigers and Red Sox continue their season series today. Boston has won the first four meetings from Detroit this season. In 2022, the Tigers went 1-5 against the Red Sox, including losing all three games at Fenway Park.
TIGERS ON THE IL:
- LHP Tyler Alexander (left lat/shoulder strain, 60-day IL on July 4, retroactive to July 3)
- LHP Matthew Boyd (left elbow sprain, 60-day IL on June 27)
- RHP Mason Englert (left hip tightness, 15-day IL on July 24, retroactive to July 23)
- OF Austin Meadows (anxiety, 60-day IL on April 8, retroactive to April 7)
- RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)
- RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)
- RHP Spencer Turnbull (neck discomfort, 60-day IL on May 12, retroactive to May 7)
TODAY’S TIGERS STARTING PITCHER
25 Matt Manning • 3-4, 5.06 ERA (53.1IP/30ER)
- Manning will make his 11th start of the season this afternoon at Boston.
- Suffered his third straight loss on Sunday against the Rays, giving up eight runs, six earned, on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
- His only career start against the Red Sox came on April 11, 2022, when he received a no decision after giving up one run on one hit with no walks and two strikeouts in 6.0 innings…will be making his first career appearance at Fenway Park today.
- Was the Tigers starting pitcher for the first combined no-hitter in franchise history on July 8 vs. Toronto, tossing 6.2 innings with three walks and five strikeouts…marked his fourth career start with at least 6.0 shutout innings.
- Returned to the active roster on June 27 at Texas, allowing two runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts in 5.2 innings…had been sidelined since April 12 with a right foot fracture.
BOSTON RED SOX NOTES:
STATE OF THE SOX: The Red Sox have won 4 of their last 5 games following a 4-game losing streak. Despite losing 8 of their 10 games from 7/29-8/8, the Sox own the AL’s 2nd-best record since 6/14 (28-20). They’re 21-13 since 6/30, the 6th-best mark in MLB. At 61-55 (.526), Boston owns MLB’s 12th-best record.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Red Sox defeated the Tigers in the series opener last night, 5-2. Chris Sale returned from the 60-Day IL (see note below). Chris Murphy earned his 1st career save with 3.0 hitless innings (2 BB, 4 SO)…Kyle Barraclough earned the win in his Red Sox debut (1.1 IP, H, BB, 3 SO, HB). Triston Casas (1-for-3, BB) hit a 3-run HR in the 4th inning.
SETTING SALE: Chris Sale retired each of his first 14 batters faced last night…He allowed 2 runs on 1 hit over 4.2 IP in his first start since 6/1 (2 R, 7 SO, HB). The Sox improved to 9-3 in Sale’s starts, including 6-1 in his last 7…He owns a 2.43 ERA, .178 opponent AVG, and 9.60 SO/BB (48 SO, 5 BB) those 7 starts. Sale moved into sole possession of 12th place on the Red Sox all-time strikeout list (898)…He passed DET’s Eduardo Rodriguez (892, and is 1 SO shy of tying of tying Clay Buchholz (899) for 11th (see box on right).
SERIES BUSINESS: With a win today or tomorrow, Boston would improve to 21-15-2 in series play…They didn’t win their 21st series last season until 9/27-29 vs. BAL, finishing 22-24-6. They would also improve to 13-7-0 in home series, surpassing their win total from 2022 (12-10-4). They are 7-4-0 in their last 11 series, beginning 6/30. Last night, the Sox improved to 22-16 in series openers…They’re 15-5-1 in series when they win Game 1.
BACK TO THE GRIND: The Sox are 4-4 so far on their season-long 10-game homestand (0-3 vs. TOR, 3-1 vs. KC, 1-0 vs. DET). Boston is in a stretch of 32 games in 34 days, from 7/28-8/30…They will only have 1 day off (8/14) in a 27-day span from 8/4-30. After their off day this coming Monday, the Sox will play a game on 16 consecutive days from 8/15-30.
IT’S GO TIME: Boston is 4-1 so far in a stretch of 10 games against sub-.500 teams (3-1 vs. KC, 1-0 vs. DET, 3 at WSH). Those 3 teams are a combined 141-210 (.402).
Prior to this stretch, the Sox went 4-7 in a stretch of 11 games against teams with a winning record (2-0 vs. ATL, 1-2 at SF, 1-2 at SEA, 0-3 vs. TOR).
SOX & TIGERS: The Red Sox have won each of their 4 games against the Tigers this season, outscoring DET 29-11. They have won 9 consecutive games vs. DET since 4/12/22, their longest winning streak against the club since 1996 (10 games, 6/28-9/19). They swept a 3-game series at DET from 4/6-9. The Sox are 8-1-1 in their last 10 series against the Tigers, dating back to June 2017.
CENTRAL TIME: Boston is 15-9 against AL Central teams this season, after going 18-15 in 2022. The Sox are 4-1 so far in a stretch of 7-straight games against AL Central teams (3-1 vs. KC, 1-0 vs. DET). They’re 4-2-1 in series against AL Central opponents.
HOME COOKING: Boston is 13-5 in its last 18 home games and 34-27 overall, compared to 27-28 on the road. At home, the Sox lead the majors in AVG (.286)…They also rank 2nd in OBP (.351), 3rd in OPS (.813), 4th in SLG (.462), and 5th in runs scored per game (5.36).
HIGH FIVE: Boston owns MLB’s best record when scoring 5+ runs (48-7, .873)…They scored 5 runs last night, just the 2nd time in their last 9 games they’ve scored 5 or more. Since 6/14, they’ve won 21 of their last 22 games when scoring 5+ runs, including each of their last 7 since 7/22.
SLUGGING SOX: The Red Sox are tied for the MLB lead in doubles (254)…They rank 2nd in the AL in AVG (.262) and XBH (397), and 4th in OBP (.328), SLG (.431), and OPS (.759). In their last 34 games since 6/30, Boston leads the AL in AVG (.270) and ranks 2nd in SLG (.458) and OPS (.783).
RED SOX OFFENSE BY DATE
Dates Record AVG OPS Runs/G
3/30-5/6 21-14 .273 .800 5.9
5/7-6/13 12-21 .243 .704 3.8
6/14-7/27 22-12 .281 .803 5.4
7/28-pres. 6-8 .230 .669 3.4
PITCHING IN: The Red Sox have allowed 3 runs or fewer in 4 of their last 5 games (2, 9, 3, 0, 2), posting a 3.20 ERA. In that span, Sox starters are 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA (8 ER/25.0 IP), while relievers are 2-0 with 6 holds, 3 saves, and a 3.60 ERA (8 ER/20.0 IP).
LOCK IT DOWN: The Red Sox own MLB’s best record when leading after 6 innings (47-3, .940)…In 2022, they ranked 18th in MLB when leading after 6 (63-10, .863). Boston leads MLB in save % (77.3; 34-for-44).
THE CLOSING ACT: Since July 1, Kenley Jansen ranks T-2nd in the AL with 10 saves…Overall, he ranks 5th in the AL with 26. Jansen has converted each of his last 17 save opportunities since 5/20, the 2nd-longest active streak of successful save chances (TOR’s Jordan Romano-18).
MOST SEASONS WITH 25+ SAVES, MLB HISTORY
Rk. Player Years Seasons
- Mariano Rivera 16 1997-2011,’13
- Trevor Hoffman 14 1995-2002, ‘04-09
- Lee Smith 13 1983-1995
T4. Kenley Jansen 11 2012-2019, ‘21-23
John Franco 11 1986-1991, ‘94-98
MARTY PARTY: Since 6/9, Chris Martin has allowed only 1 run over his last 23 outings (20.2 IP)…His 0.44 ERA over that span is 2nd best in MLB (min. 15.0 IP). Overall, his 1.41 ERA (6 ER/38.1 IP) is 5th best in the majors (min. 30.0 IP)…His 0.44 home ERA (1 ER/20.1 IP) ranks 2nd in MLB (Josh Hader-0.42; min. 20.0 IP).
ON THE MEND: Tanner Houck, and Garrett Whitlock are currently on rehab assignments with Triple-A Worcester. Houck tossed 3.0 scoreless innings in Game 1 of yesterday’s doubleheader vs. Buffalo (H, 3 SO, 34 pitches)…He made his 1st rehab start Saturday at Syracuse (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 SO, 46 pitches). Whitlock made his 1st rehab appearance Wednesday vs. Buffalo, allowing 2 hits over 2.1 IP (3 SO, HB, 46 pitches).
TONIGHT’S STARTER: 66 BRAYAN BELLO – RHP
W-L ERA G GS IP ER HR BB SO WHIP AVG
2023 8-6 3.64 19 19 108.2 44 15 30 91 1.23 .249
CAREER 10-14 4.01 32 30 166.0 74 16 57 146 1.42 .273
Is making his 1st career appearance vs. DET. Boston is 13-6 in his starts (3-0 in last 3, 5-1 in last 6, 8-2 in last 10). Leads the Sox in starts (19), innings (108.2), and wins (tied, 8). Has posted a 5.34 ERA in 5 starts since the All-Star break (17 ER/28.2 IP)…In his final 12 starts before the break (4/29-7/5), posted a 2.35 ERA (19 ER/72.2 IP). Has tossed 6.0+ innings in 10 of his last 11 starts, including each of his last 3. In his last 10 home starts, has posted a 2.45 ERA (16 ER/58.2 IP)…Each of his last 6 outings at Fenway Park has been a quality start. Against his changeup, opponents are batting .178 with an expected SLG of .241…The only pitcher with a lower xSLG vs. changeups is Shane McClanahan (.240) (min. 100 PA).
