Sunday’s red sox game today against the Tigers was pushed back three hours to 4:35 p.m. because rain is in the Boston forecast, turning the third game of a four-game series into a late-afternoon test before Monday’s Patriots’ Day finale.
Garrett Crochet was scheduled to start for Boston after one of the roughest outings of his season. In his most recent start Monday at Minnesota, he gave up 11 runs, 10 earned, on nine hits, three walks and a hit by pitch in 1 2/3 innings and did not record a strikeout. Even with that collapse, Crochet entered Sunday leading the majors with 255 strikeouts in 205 1/3 innings.
Detroit countered with Framber Valdez, who was coming off a seven-inning outing Tuesday against Kansas City in which he allowed one run on four hits in a 2-1 win. Valdez had also been solid against Boston over his career, going 3-2 with a 3.10 ERA in six appearances, including four starts.
The matchup comes with both teams trying to answer different questions. Boston won Friday’s opener 1-0 in 10 innings, then lost 4-1 on Saturday against Tarik Skubal, giving the Red Sox back-to-back games of scoring one or fewer runs on five or fewer hits. The Tigers, meanwhile, had won seven of their past eight games and snapped a nine-game road losing streak on Saturday.
That makes Sunday less about the weather delay than about whether Boston can break out of a quiet stretch and whether Detroit can keep building momentum away from home. Alex Cora said his club has to chip away against aces and has to cash in when chances come, get it close enough, and the Red Sox will need that approach if they want to avoid another tight game turning against them before Monday’s 11 a.m. Patriots’ Day first pitch.
The series has already shown how little margin there is. Boston has taken one game in 10 innings and dropped the next by three runs, while the Tigers have paired recent road success with a rotation that can quiet an offense. With the start moved to 4:35 p.m., Sunday’s game now sits between the weather and the holiday finale, and it carries more weight than a mid-series pause usually would.
