Red Sox 5, Tigers 4: Bad bullpen dooms Detroiters

On a day in which some big, dark, looming injury news was made, some big, dark, looming clouds — literal, not metaphorical — hung over downtown Detroit. Eventually, those clouds caused a rain delay, but after dodging the drops, the Tigers dropped the opening contest of their three-game home series against the Red Sox, 5-4. It was a somewhat unexpected pitchers’ duel early, but a disastrous outing from the Tiger bullpen erased a slim lead and was their ultimate downfall.

In case you haven’t heard, Tarik Skubal is going to have surgery for “loose bodies” in his left elbow, which is definitely his more important one. So, taking his place for the latest edition of Pitching Chaos was Tyler Holton, who also started Sunday night, going two-thirds of an inning against the Rangers. The planned bulk-guy tonight was call-up Ty Madden, who missed all of 2025 and had made five starts for Toledo so far this season.

Facing the Tigers was left-hander Payton Tolle; at press time, it had not been determined whether or not he is related to German self-help author Eckhart Tolle. Like Madden, Tolle (Payton, not Eckhart) started the season in Triple-A; he had a handful of appearances with the Red Sox in 2025 and did decently well. Unlike Madden, Tolle played some first base and outfield in college, and appeared as a designated hitter fairly often, clubbing a baker’s dozen home runs in 2023.

Holton had a little traffic on the basepaths as he completed the first inning and then hit the showers. Madden started the second and had a fairly uneventful second inning before getting into a bit of a jam in the third: Zack Short handled an Andruw Monasterio grounder at shortstop, but bounced the throw to first base that Spencer Torkelson couldn’t handle. Jarren Duran singled to put runners on the corners with none out, and Duran stole second to put a pair of runners into scoring position.