Boston – No need for the Tigers to wait up for the results of the Astros-Angels game.
They didn’t hold up their end of the bargain Friday night.
Squandering an opportunity to blow the game open early and wasting a brilliant effort from starter Casey Mize, the Tigers instead watched the Boston Red Sox celebrate after they walked the Tigers off in the bottom of the ninth, 4-3, to clinch a playoff berth of their own.
The Tigers’ magic number to clinch a spot was reduced to one, with the Astros losing 4-3 at Anaheim. With the Guardians losing to Texas Friday, they still have a share of the Central Division lead, though Cleveland owns the tie-breaker.
Ceddanne Rafaela drove home the game-winner for the Red Sox, a triple off the centerfield wall in the bottom of the ninth against Tommy Kahnle.
“We’ve got to get our heads up and get our chins up and get back to work,” manager AJ Hinch said. “There’s a lot of baseball left, a lot of good baseball to play.”
BOX SCORE: Red Sox 4, Tigers 3
The Tigers played a lot of good baseball Friday. They just failed to capitalize on numerous chances to break the game open. They were 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on.
“Are we pressing?” outfielder Riley Greene said. “Maybe, maybe not. We’re trying to help the team win. We’re all trying. Are we pressing? Maybe. But that’s coming from wanting to help. We have to flush tonight and show up tomorrow and win.”
The Tigers had a chance to break the 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth off Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman. Pinch-hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy lined a double to left center. Pinch-runner Zach McKinstry advanced to third on a productive, two-strike ground out by Gleyber Torres.
But Chapman, firing 100 and 101 mph darts, struck out Wenceel Perez and Spencer Torkelson to end the threat.
“This is all about missed opportunities in this ballpark,” Hinch said. “It’s never over here. They did a good job of chipping away and coming up with big hits in big moments and we left the bases loaded a couple of times. We couldn’t quite do anything with our opportunities.”
And that was the shame of it because Mize left his heart out on that Fenway Park mound.
“Casey did an incredible job,” Hinch said. “He was super efficient. He had really good stuff and he executed.”
With the Tigers’ bullpen arm-weary and facing an all-hands game Saturday, Mize pitched 6.1 strong innings, striking out eight with no walks. He was the Tigers’ primary energy source early in the game.
“I knew coming into it that it was a really big start,” Mize said. “I haven’t pitched in the postseason so this was probably the biggest start in my career. So just go from pitch one. There’s no time for anything less than that. I tried to rise to the occasion. Just came up short.”
He was in command of his full arsenal, mixing hard sliders, slow sliders and splitters off firm four-seam fastballs and sinkers. Both the heaters were sitting at 95 mph and hitting 97.
“He was very determined, very focused,” Hinch said. “He pounded the zone and got to leverage. He had really good stuff.”
The damage came on a couple wall-banging doubles off the Green Monster in left.
Alex Bregman doubled off the wall to start the fourth inning and scored on a single by Masataka Yoshida.
Then in the sixth with one out, Rafaela drove one off the wall, setting up a second-and-third opportunity.
Hinch, with lefty Tyler Holton down after pitching the two previous games, called on Kyle Finnegan against left-handed hitters Nathaniel Lowe and Wilyer Abreu.
Lowe’s sacrifice fly made it a 3-2 game and Finnegan retired Abreu on a ground out.
That he left the game with a lead in the seventh was no solace to Mize, especially after the Red Sox tied it off Finnegan in the eighth.
“All that matters right now is the scoreboard and we lost,” he said. “It’s frustrating. … It’s tough this time of year to be happy with anything other than a win.”
The Tigers scored three times in the fourth inning, chased Red Sox lefty starter Kyle Harrison and still came out of the inning feeling empty.
Andy Ibáñez led off the inning with a walk, Dillon Dingler singled and then Parker Meadows dropped a perfectly-placed bunt single down the third base line to load the bases.
Javier Báez singled in a run and Jahmai Jones slashed a two-run double into the left-field corner.
But, with runners at second and third, still no outs, the fun abruptly stopped.
Right-handed reliever Justin Slaten got Torres to ground to third and then seemed to pitch around Perez, who was hitting left-handed, to get to righty-swinging Torkelson. He got Torkelson to pop out to the catcher.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora then went to lefty Steven Matz, who got lefty-swinging Greene, the ninth hitter in the inning, to line out to left.
“I’ve got to have a better at-bat in that situation,” Greene said. “We had some chances and we didn’t come through. It sucks, but it’s the game.”
The math is starting to get real simple for the Tigers. They need to win Saturday and then total it up again after that.
“We have to focus on the next one; that’s what we’ve done all season long,” Mize said. “We have two left. That’s not going to change. We’re going to come here tomorrow expecting to win. We know time is running out. We have to have a sense of urgency and we need to play better.”
@cmccosky
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