Field Level Media
Aug 4, 2021
Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run homer and Boston pitchers struck out 18 Detroit batters as the visiting Red Sox snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday.
J.D. Martinez and Jarren Duran hit solo home runs for Boston. Hernandez and Xander Bogaerts reached base three times apiece.
Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez (8-6) struck out 10 in five innings while allowing just two hits and walking four. Matt Barnes pitched the ninth for his 24th save and was one of four relievers who recorded two strikeouts.
Detroit starter Casey Mize (6-6) allowed all of the Red Sox runs in five innings. Jonathan Schoop accounted for the lone Tigers run with a homer.
Miguel Cabrera, who hit his 498th homer in the series opener on Tuesday, went 1-for-4.
Both teams had runners at the corners in the first and came up empty. Boston's Rafael Devers hit into a double play, while Cabrera and Eric Haase struck out in that situation in the bottom of the inning.
Martinez put the Red Sox on the board in the next inning with a leadoff homer to right-center. He has 21 this season.
Bogaerts hit a leadoff double in the fourth but the Red Sox left him stranded at third base.
Boston didn't squander its opportunity in the next inning.
Hunter Renfroe led off the fifth with another double. With two out and Renfroe on third, Hernandez blasted a 426-foot homer to left. Duran followed up Hernandez's homer with a long ball of his own two pitches later.
Boston also had runners at the corners with one out in the sixth. Renfroe and Bobby Dalbec struck out, preventing the Red Sox from building on their 4-0 lead.
Hernandez's one-out triple in the seventh was also wasted.
Schoop's first homer since July 18 put Detroit on the board in the bottom of the inning.
Jeimer Candelario hit a one-out double in the bottom of the eighth. Adam Ottavino struck out Willi Castro and Harold Castro to snuff out the threat.
--Field Level Media