Jack Flaherty carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Detroit Tigers hit three home runs en route to a 5-0 win over the host Boston Red Sox in the first of a four-game series on Thursday.
Flaherty (2-4) faced just two batters over the minimum in his 6 2/3-inning start, allowing one hit — a Rob Refsnyder single through the left side — and one walk while striking out nine for a third consecutive start.
Akil Baddoo, Riley Greene and Gio Urshela all went deep while Colt Keith went 2-for-4 to lead the Tigers to their fifth win in six games. The latter two homers came in a three-run eighth inning.
Limited to just two hits, the Red Sox wasted a strong start from Nick Pivetta (2-4), who matched a franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts from the end of the first through third innings. He finished with nine over 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball.
Pivetta issued a leadoff walk to Matt Vierling in the first, but quickly erased him on Greene’s fielder’s choice grounder. He got out of the inning by fanning Mark Canha and Urshela, beginning his run into team history.
Pivetta worked a 1-2-3 fourth before Baddoo broke the shutout with an opposite-field solo homer — his first of the season — over the Green Monster with one out in the fifth. It was the first hit for either team.
Rafael Devers was the first Boston baserunner, drawing a leadoff walk in the fifth. Flaherty got out of the inning by striking out the next two batters and getting Reese McGuire to ground out.
Detroit doubled its lead during a sixth inning that began with Carson Kelly ripping a triple deep into right field that rolled past Wilyer Abreu and into the corner. Kelly held steady on third after Vierling’s fly ball to right, but Canha’s single up the middle made it 2-0.
In the bottom half of the frame, Vaughn Grissom looked to have Boston’s first hit, but Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson made a diving stop, turned and flipped to the covering Flaherty.
The Red Sox were unable to score after Refsnyder broke up the no-hitter in a nine-pitch at-bat in the seventh. Alex Faedo relieved Flaherty and induced a Connor Wong grounder to end the inning.
In the eighth, Greene and Urshela socked homers over the left field wall in a span of three batters, the first of which followed a Vierling double for a two-run shot. The blasts were the first of the season for Urshela and 10th for Greene.
–Field Level Media
