Dillon Dingler finished a triple shy of the cycle on a 4-for-5, four-RBI day and Framber Valdez pitched six innings of one-run ball, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 6-2 win over the host Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Detroit rocked four total extra-base hits — including fifth-inning homers by Jahmai Jones and Dingler — off Boston’s Garrett Crochet (2-3), who had allowed a career-worst 11 runs in 1 2/3 innings to the Minnesota Twins in his last start on April 13. The southpaw did strike out eight Tigers but allowed five runs on seven hits through five frames in his second straight setback.
Matt Vierling and Javier Baez also had multiple hits for the Tigers, who have won back-to-back games in the four-game series.
Valdez (2-1) struck out seven across his six innings of three-hit ball, with a Willson Contreras home run marking the only Boston run against him.
Crochet could not escape the first inning unscathed as Vierling and Dingler knocked consecutive doubles with two outs and two strikes to lift Detroit to an early lead.
The hosts immediately punched back as Contreras tied the game with a two-out homer out to left-center. Valdez limited the damage with an inning-ending strikeout of Ceddanne Rafaela after Trevor Story singled and Wilyer Abreu walked following the solo shot.
Crochet looked to settle in after the early run, dialing up two strikeouts in three of his next four innings. That stretch included stranding Dingler on base after a leadoff single in the fourth.
However, Detroit changed the game by socking a pair of two-out homers against Boston’s ace lefty in the fifth. Jones broke up a string of five straight Tigers retired when he crushed his first of the season, a 423-foot blast over the deepest part of the Green Monster in center field.
After Jones’ homer, Gleyber Torres walked and Vierling singled to keep the line moving, then Dingler broke the score open with a three-run shot to straightaway center.
The run support was more than enough for Valdez, who allowed just one hit — Rafaela’s two-out double in the fourth — after the opening frame before making way for the bullpen. Kyle Finnegan and Will Vest each threw scoreless innings.
In the ninth, the Tigers plated another run off Boston reliever Jack Anderson. After Baez hit a leadoff single and Kerry Carpenter walked, Torres dropped an RBI single just inside the right-field line.
Caleb Durbin’s two-out double off the wall in left brought the Red Sox a run closer, but right-hander Connor Seabold finished the final frame without any further damage.
