Trevor Story blasted a three-run homer, Christian Vasquez added a solo shot and the host Boston Red Sox topped the Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Tuesday.
Xander Bogaerts had two hits and scored a run for Boston, which won for the 15th time in its last 19 games.
Starting pitcher Rich Hill (3-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings while recording six strikeouts. Ryan Brasier tossed two innings of scoreless relief and John Schreiber got the last out for his second career save.
Javier Baez had three hits — a solo home run, triple and single — for Detroit. Miguel Cabrera reached base four times, including three singles, and knocked in a run. Jonathan Schoop supplied a solo homer.
Starting pitcher Beau Brieske (1-6) allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.
The Tigers opened up scoring in the first after Baez tripled to center and Cabrera drove him in with a single.
Jarren Duran led off the home half of the first with an infield single and advanced to third on Rafael Devers’ base hit. Duran then scored on a J.D. Martinez sacrifice fly.
Baez drilled a 3-2 offering from Hill over the right-center field wall to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the third.
Boston took the lead in the fourth. Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo hit back-to-back singles before Story powered a Brieske slider over the left-field wall. Story’s long ball was his 11th of the season.
Detroit cut it to 4-3 in the fifth, as Robbie Grossman walked and moved up to third on a Cabrera single. Eric Haase then drove Grossman in with a single of his own.
Vasquez pushed Boston’s advantage to two runs in the seventh inning when he swung at the first pitch from reliever Andrew Chafin and lifted it over the left-field wall. Vasquez’s homer was his fourth of the season.
Schoop led off the ninth with his team-leading sixth home run to pull within one, but the Tigers were unable to complete the comeback.
The Red Sox will aim for the sweep of the three-game series on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media