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 and finished with nine over 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball.
Pivetta issued a leadoff free pass to Matt Vierling, but quickly erased him on Greene’s fielder’s choice grounder. He got out of the first by fanning Mark Canha and Gio Urshela, which began 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. Two strikeouts and a grounder got Flaherty through the inning immediately thereafter.
Detroit doubled its lead during a sixth inning that began with Carson Kelly ripped a triple deep into right field that rolled past Wilyer Abreu and into the corner. Kelly held steady on third after a Vierling fly ball to right, but Canha’s line 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 find a run 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 blast was the first of the season for Urshela and the 10th for Greene.
–Field Level Media