Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in three runs as the Boston Red Sox overwhelmed former teammate Eduardo Rodriguez and held off the host Detroit Tigers 9-7 on Wednesday.
Kike Hernandez had two hits — including a homer — two runs scored and two RBIs.
Nathan Eovaldi (1-0) gave up two runs on four hits and struck out six in five innings. Hansel Robles recorded four outs while collecting the save.
Rodriguez (0-1) allowed seven runs, though only two were earned, on five hits in 3 2/3 innings. Rodriguez won 64 games for the Red Sox from 2015-21. He signed a five-year, $77 million contract with the Tigers as a free agent during the offseason.
Spencer Torkelson, the top pick of the 2020 amateur draft, hit his first major league homer for Detroit.
Javier Baez was a late scratch due to a thumb injury.
Jonathan Schoop hit his first homer of the season off an Eovaldi slider with two out in the first.
Hernandez tied the game in the third with his solo shot that barely cleared the left-field wall.
The Red Sox then erupted for six runs in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead.
J.D. Martinez led off with a walk and Bobby Dalbec singled. After a sacrifice moved the runners, Alex Verdugo hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Martinez. Christian Vazquez reached on an error by third baseman Jeimer Candelario.
Bradley knocked in Dalbec and Vazquez with a double to left. Hernandez and Rafael Devers followed with RBI doubles to knock Rodriguez out of the game. Devers scored when Trevor Story singled off reliever Rony Garcia.
Detroit’s Akil Baddoo homered with one out in the fifth.
Boston made it 9-2 in the seventh against Drew Hutchison on Vazquez’s sacrifice fly and Bradley’s RBI double.
Torkelson answered in the bottom of the inning with his two-run blast over the left-field wall.
Detroit rallied for three more runs in the eighth. Eric Haase and Victor Reyes had RBI singles and Austin Meadows was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
–Field Level Media