 allowed two hits, lowered his ERA to an American League-best 2.13 and won his sixth straight decision. The Red Sox are 19-4 in their last 23 games, and the AL East leaders cruised through the finale of this series after scoring just one run in the previous two nights at Detroit.Blaine Hardy (3-3) allowed four runs and five hits in three-plus innings. Jeimer Candelario homered for the Tigers in the seventh.Sale has won each of his last five starts, allowing one run in 33 innings in that span. He had gone five straight starts with at least 11 strikeouts - and only one walk in each - but that streak came to an end when he was lifted Sunday after 99 pitches.Boston scored twice in the second on RBI groundouts by Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez, then the Red Sox broke the game open in the fourth.With men on second and third and nobody out, Devers hit a grounder to first baseman John Hicks, who immediately threw home - only to have Steve Pearce, the Boston runner at third, stay put. Devers reached on that fielder's choice, loading the bases.Drew VerHagen came on to relieve Hardy, and Nunez greeted him with an RBI single off the glove of Candelario, the third baseman. Xander Bogaerts, the runner on second, held up when he made it to third, but Devers - who had started the play on first - nearly reached third himself before stopping because Bogaerts was still there. Devers was tagged out.The Red Sox weren't hurt much by that baserunning mishap. Bradley followed with his seventh homer of the year, giving Boston a 6-0 lead.Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run triple in the seventh, and J. D. Martinez added a sacrifice fly.The game was delayed 1 hour, 35 minutes at the start because of rain.TRAINER'S ROOMRed Sox: 2B Brock Holt sat out a second straight game after exiting Friday night with a bruised knee.UP NEXTBoston heads to Baltimore for a three-game series. Rick Porcello (11-4) takes the mound for the Red Sox on Monday night against Kevin Gausman (4-7).The Tigers travel for a three-game set at Kansas City. Detroit's Francisco Liriano (3-5) starts the opener Monday night against Heath Fillmyer (0-1).---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball---Follow Noah Trister at www. Twitter.com/noahtrister)
Red Sox's Sale to make first post-All-Star Game start vs. Tigers 4h ago• 2 min read Fresh off a third consecutive start in the All-Star Game, Chris Sale goes back to pitching in a pennant race.The Boston Red Sox left-hander tossed one scoreless inning and nine pitches for the American League on Tuesday night. One of his fastballs was clocked at 100.7 mph, the fastest pitch he has thrown in eight years."The only thing I was thinking about out there was getting outs and not messing up," he said afterward.He rarely messes up under any circumstances. He entered the All-Star Game on a hot streak and will make his initial second-half start against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.Sale (10-4, 2.23 ERA) became just the third pitcher to start three consecutive All-Star Games."It was awesome," he told NESN. "Obviously, I know the history behind it, know that's only happened two other times. Just trying to soak it all in and appreciate it." In Sale's last seven starts, he has been nearly unhittable. He's 5-1 with an 0.94 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 48 innings.In 31 career outings against Detroit, Sale is 9-8 with a 3.05 ERA.Two active Tigers have had surprising success through the years against him. Designated hitter Victor Martinez has batted .423 with four homers in 52 official at-bats and shortstop Jose Iglesias has a .344 average in 32 at-bats.Sale was originally scheduled to face Detroit ace Michael Fulmer but was placed on the disabled list this weekend with an oblique strain. He was injured during a bullpen session on Friday."It's not like I went out there cold and didn't warm up properly, or this or that," Fulmer told MLB.com. "I did everything I would usually do for my normal routine. It didn't feel tight. It was just one of those things where it just happened." The Tigers will instead counter with left-hander Blaine Hardy (3-2, 3.31 ERA).Hardy will be making his ninth start and 19th appearance this season. His most recent start came June 26 when he gave up six runs (three earned) in four innings against Oakland.He has made five relief appearances since then, giving up just one run in 6 2/3 innings."I am curious on what kind of pitch count they're going to give me," Hardy told the Detroit News. "Or more so, what pitch count can I get to." Hardy has faced Boston three times, including one start, posting a 1-2 record and 7.04 ERA.The Red Sox activated third baseman Rafael Devers from the disabled list on Saturday. Devers went 1-for-4 in his return but also committed his 20th error, which led to Detroit's first two runs in a 5-0 victory.Boston is fortunate to have split the first two games of the three-game set despite scoring just one run. The Red Sox were blanked for the fourth time on Saturday when they stranded 10 baserunners in a 5-0 loss.Utility man Brock Holt was unavailable Saturday after suffering a right knee contusion on Friday. He won't play Sunday but shouldn't be out long."He's doing OK. Just a little bit sore," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said during his pregame press conference. "Trying to stay away from him today and tomorrow. Hopefully, he can start on Monday."
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