Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 2 |
| DET | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
The Story
The Boston Red Sox overcame a two-run Detroit lead and a late Tigers rally to win 5-4 at Comerica Park on May 4, 2026, handing the home club a loss despite the DiamondIQ model's pre-game estimate of a 64 percent chance of a Detroit victory. The game was scoreless through five innings before Detroit plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth, a half-inning in which Matt Vierling's fielders choice represented the most damaging moment from a probability standpoint, shifting the win likelihood in Detroit's favor by 21.5 percent. Boston answered emphatically in the top of the seventh, when Jarren Duran connected on a home run off Ricky Vanasco that swung win probability by 35.7 percent, the single largest play of the game, and Wilyer Abreu followed with a run-producing single off Enmanuel De Jesus that added another 13.0 percent. The Red Sox poured across five runs in that frame, turning a deficit into a 5-2 lead.
Detroit did not go quietly. The Tigers pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Dillon Dingler double off Garrett Whitlock, a hit worth 21.0 percent in win-probability terms that tightened the score to 5-4. Boston's bullpen held in the ninth, and the decisive final out came when Hao-Yu Lee lofted a flyout off Aroldis Chapman to end the game, a play that registered plus-31.6 percent win probability added for the Red Sox by retiring the last meaningful Detroit threat.
Duran was the offensive catalyst and finished as the game's top performer by both metrics, posting a plus-38.6 percent WPA and plus-3.0 RE24 on the strength of his go-ahead blast. Vierling and Lee each contributed meaningful probability swings, finishing with WPA figures of plus-22.2 and plus-23.0 percent respectively. On the pitching side, Ty Madden led all pitchers with a plus-24.7 percent WPA, while Payton Tolle added plus-13.4 percent and Kenley Jansen contributed plus-3.6 percent as Boston closed out the victory. The Red Sox finished with 12 hits against Detroit's three, a disparity that ultimately proved decisive despite committing two errors of their own.