Detroit Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario, playing through puddles in the infield, made the mistake that shaped the outcome of Wednesday afternoon’s game, but left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez wasn’t free of blame.
“My job is to get the next guy out,” Rodriguez said.
A throwing error from Candelario with two outs in the fourth inning led to the Boston Red Sox attacking Rodriguez for five additional runs in what ended as a six-run frame for the road team.
The Tigers lost, 9-7.
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“No excuses,” Candelario said. “I just made the error. It is what it is. It’s always disappointing when you don’t make those plays, but we will go from there. We’ll work really hard to not make those mistakes again.”
Fifteen minutes after first pitch, rain began to fall at Comerica Park and continued until the bottom of the fifth inning. The grounds crew took the field numerous times to pour fresh dirt in an attempt to maintain the sloppy infield, batter’s box and pitcher’s mound.
Detroit dropped to a 2-4 record, losing back-to-back series to the Chicago White Sox and Red Sox to open the 2022 season. The Tigers travel to Kansas City for a four-game series.
First of many
Spencer Torkelson, in his sixth MLB game, drilled the first home run of his career in the seventh inning, sending a fastball from left-handed reliever Austin Davis into the left-field seats.
Torkelson finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
“It feels great,” Torkelson said. “I kind of sat there and enjoyed it a little bit. I didn’t mean to show up the pitcher or anything. I knew I got it as soon as I hit it, so I wanted to enjoy it.”
The Tigers scored three runs in the eighth and had an opportunity for more with the bases loaded and no outs, thanks to Eric Haase (RBI single), Harold Castro (walk) and Torkelson (single). Red Sox manager Alex Cora called for lefty Jake Diekman out of the bullpen, and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch countered by pinch-hitting Miguel Cabrera.
Diekman struck out Cabrera and Akil Baddoo, but Victor Reyes punched an RBI single. Austin Meadows was hit by Diekman’s full-count slider, which plated another run for a 9-7 deficit.
Jonathan Schoop popped out against righty Hansel Robles to strand the bases loaded in the eighth inning. Robles returned for the ninth and retired the Tigers in order.
“You get down like that, I’m really proud of our guys for not giving at-bats away and getting into the next series,” Hinch said. “It was a good sign. We had some good swings and gave ourselves a chance at the end, just fell short. I’m encouraged by both the effort and the production.”
Rodriguez, who pitched for the Red Sox from 2015-21, allowed seven runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks against in his first-ever matchup with his old team.
The 29-year-old joined the Tigers by signing a five-year, $77 million contract this past offseason. Although Candelario made the throwing error, Rodriguez let the Red Sox batter him for three consecutive doubles to left field.
Hinch yanked Rodriguez from the game with two outs in the fourth. Right-handed reliever Rony Garcia, a 24-year-old and former Rule 5 draft pick, earned the final out.
“We probably need a little more aggressiveness into his next start,” Hinch said. “I’m sure it was a weird start for him, going against his ex-teammates. But the impact of his stuff changed as the game went on. He lost the feel for his command, and they took advantage of it.”
When the wet paper bag fell apart
Before the fourth, Rodriguez cruised against his former teammates.
The Tigers provided him with a one-run lead in the first inning on Schoop’s solo home run off Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi. Rodriguez backed his new team with zeros across the first two innings.
Rodriguez allowed a game-tying solo home run to Enrique Hernandez in the third.
Then, the Red Sox exploded for six runs in the fourth.
“I lost my command a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “I made some mistakes, and they took advantage of it. That’s how it is, no matter who you’re facing. Too much over the plate, too much in the strike zone. That was what happened.”
J.D. Martinez drew a six-pitch walk to jumpstart Rodriguez’s downfall, and Bobby Dalbec singled to amplify the pressure. Cora used a sacrifice bunt from Christian Arroyo to advance the runners; Alex Verdugo put Boston ahead 2-1 with a sacrifice fly.
That’s when Candelario made his throwing error.
“He was middling a lot,” Cora said, “and when we got him in the zone, we did damage.”
After Christian Vazquez reached safely, the Red Sox produced three doubles in a row from Jackie Bradley Jr., Hernandez and Rafael Devers. Those extra-base hits had the Tigers down 6-1. Facing Garcia, Trevor Story singled to score Devers to make it 7-1.
Rodriguez finished with five strikeouts: Story (twice), Dalbec, Vazquez, Bradley. For his 72 pitches (44 strikes), he used 42 four-seam fastballs (58%), 14 sinkers (19%), six cutters (8%), six changeups (8%) and four sliders (6%). He recorded nine swings and misses with five four-seamers, two sinkers and two changeups.
He had eight called strikes, only two with his secondary pitches.
“Today was a tough day to pitch with the rain,” Barnhart said. “Conditions sucked. But I thought he was good. I thought his stuff was really good. They just strung a couple hits together in the fourth that made him work. Just one of those days.”
Not a total loss
The Tigers got a run back in the fifth inning, as Baddoo — one day after the center fielder recorded his first hit of the season — crushed a line-drive home run to right-center field.
Eovaldi struck out the other three batters in the fifth: Tucker Barnhart, Reyes and Meadows. Like the Tigers’ Rodriguez, Eovaldi was making his second start for the Red Sox.
Boston’s Opening Day starter allowed two runs on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts in five innings. The Tigers totaled seven runs on 11 hits, three walks and 12 strikeouts.
Replacing Rodriguez, Garcia ended the fourth and pitched scoreless fifth and sixth innings. He gave way to right-hander Drew Hutchison, who allowed two runs on three hits and one walk in the seventh.
Hutchison worked around two baserunners in a scoreless eighth.
Lefty closer Gregory Soto pitched the ninth, working around a leadoff double by Verdugo.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.