BOSTON – In a Patriots’ Day special, the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox matched up in an earlier-than-usual matchup – 11 a.m. on Monday, April 20 – in the finale of the four-game series at Fenway Park.
Both starters had less-than-ideal outings: Red Sox right-hander Sonny Gray left in the third inning with right hamstring tightness, and Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty failed to complete the fourth inning after six walks.
The Tigers lost, 8-6.
Walks were the biggest problem.
The Tigers walked eight batters, with the Red Sox drawing three walks off Flaherty in a two-run second inning and two walks off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton in a three-run seventh inning.
The Tigers (12-11) and Red Sox (9-13) split the four-game series.
Next up, the Tigers will return home to Comerica Park for a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, beginning Tuesday (6:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet).
In Monday’s game, Jahmai Jones came off the bench as a pinch-hitter for Kerry Carpenter against left-handed reliever Jovani Morán after walks from Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler.
And Jones delivered an RBI single.
He reached out and pulled a down-and-away changeup with two strikeouts, placing the ball over the head of the shortstop and putting it into left-center field.
It put the Tigers ahead, 3-2.
The Red Sox responded immediately against left-handed reliever Brant Hurter, sparked by a one-out double to Carlos Narváez. The bigger issue? Letting Narváez steal third base for the second steal of his 138-game MLB career. He then scored when Roman Anthony fought off an inside sinker for an RBI single into center field.
It tied the game for the Red Sox, 3-3.
The Red Sox kept the momentum rolling with three runs in the seventh inning, taking a 6-3 lead.
Those runs buried the Tigers.
In the seventh, the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out – Masataka Yoshida (single), Trevor Story (walk), Caleb Durbin (single) – for pinch-hitter Ceddanne Rafaela against left-handed reliever Tyler Holton.
Rafaela fell behind in the count, but he pushed a down-and-away changeup into right field, producing a two-RBI single for a 5-3 lead. A wild pitch from Holton advanced Rafaela to third with two outs; he then scored for a 6-3 lead on Narváez’s RBI single.
The Red Sox tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning against right-handed reliever Drew Anderson for an 8-3 advantage. Anderson has a 7.94 ERA across 11⅓ innings in seven games.
Before the late-game letdown, the Tigers and Red Sox traded two runs across the first four innings.
The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in a miserable second inning for Flaherty, who walked three batters and threw the ball away for an error.
On the error, Flaherty fielded a bunt from Narváez, forcing Caleb Durbin to slam on the breaks and retreat to third base after getting three-quarters of the way to home plate. Instead of running at Durbin, Flaherty made a critical mistake in trying to throw the ball to third baseman Hao-Yu Lee. The ball tipped off Lee’s glove and rolled into foul territory, allowing the Red Sox to score their first run.
The second run came on a bases-loaded walk from Wilyer Abreu with two outs. Flaherty then bounced back by inducing an inning-ending groundout against Masataka Yoshida to strand the bases loaded.
Flaherty surrendered two runs (zero earned runs) on three hits and six walks with three strikeouts across 3⅓ innings, throwing 73 pitches.
The 30-year-old – who returned to the Tigers by exercising his $20 million player option in the offseason – owns a 3.47 ERA across 23⅓ innings in five starts, but his 18.4% walk rate is alarming.
He has walked 20 batters in 23⅓ innings in 2026.
Back in 2024, he walked 19 batters in 106⅔ innings.
The Tigers scored one run apiece in the third and fourth innings for a 2-2 tie, thanks to Jake Rogers’ RBI single (after Matt Vierling’s double) in the third and Lee’s RBI single (after Greene’s walk and Carpenter’s hit-by-pitch) in the fourth.
It marked the first hit of Lee’s MLB career.
The milestone hit came off right-handed reliever Zack Kelly, as Lee dropped a middle-middle cutter into center field.
The Tigers trimmed their deficit to 8-4 in the ninth inning with Lee’s double, Kevin McGonigle’s double and Gleyber Torres’ RBI single, all facing right-handed reliever Ryan Watson.
That put runners on the corners with one out for Keith.
The Red Sox brought in left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman to put the Tigers away; the Tigers countered with pinch-hitter Spencer Torkelson to avoid the left-on-left matchup.
But Torkelson struck out swinging.
Down to their final out, the Tigers trimmed their deficit once again – this time, making it 8-6 – with Greene’s two-RBI double, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.
Dingler grounded out to end the game.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers burned by walks in 8-6 loss vs Red Sox on Patriots’ Day
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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