DETROIT — Payton Tolle pitched seven innings of two-run ball, Jarren Duran hit a three-run home run and the Boston Red Sox used a five-run seventh inning to beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Monday night.
Tolle (1-1) struck out eight, giving up two runs, one hit and a walk to help the Red Sox take the opener of the series and earn his first win of the season.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a hitless ninth for his seventh save of the season and 373rd of his career.
The game was played with fans watching from the concourse as a storm blew through Detroit. The tarps were brought out onto the field in the eighth inning for a 25-minute delay due to lightning.
Duran went 3 for 5 and drove in three runs, and Wilyer Abreu and Marcelo Mayer both finished with RBIs in a 12-hit night for Boston.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the sixth inning on Matt Vierling's two-run single. Vierling reached on a fielder’s choice after third baseman Andruw Monasterio overthrew the catcher, scoring Colt Keith and Jahmai Jones for a 2-0 lead.
Duran responded in the seventh with a three-run homer to the opposite field wall that put the Red Sox up 3-2. His homer was the Red Sox’s first opposite-field home run since April 1. Abreu followed with his RBI single, and Mayer drove Abreu in with a single of his own for a 5-2 Boston lead.
Detroit pulled within a run in the eighth after Dillon Dingler doubled to score Keith and Vierling, but that capped the game's scoring.
Ricky Vanasco (0-1) took the loss after giving up four runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony left the game in his first at-bat with right wrist discomfort. Masataka Yoshida replaced Anthony in left field.
Up Next
RHP Brayan Bello (1-4, 9.12 ERA) gets the start for Boston while LHP Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.35 ERA) takes the mound for the Tigers in the second game of the series.
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