WASHINGTON — The Tigers hit four home runs, built an 8-0 lead and Matthew Boyd took a no-hitter into the sixth inning Friday night against the Washington Nationals.
And it very nearly got away from them.
The Nationals chased Boyd with three runs in the sixth inning and then chased reliever Mason Englert with three more in the seventh.
But it ended there. Chasen Shreve quelled the rally in the seventh and then Jason Foley and Alex Lange locked down an 8-6 win at Nationals Park Friday night in the first of a three-game set.
The Tigers’ hitters came into the game with the taste of that ugly 8-0 loss to the Pirates still in their mouths from Wednesday. They managed just one hit in that game, none after the first batter in the first inning.
They rinsed and spit that taste out proper.
Zach McKinstry started the game with an opposite-field homer to right-center. He hoisted a 1-2 curveball for his third of the season and his first ever leadoff homer.
Akil Baddoo, who had singled in a run in the first, hit a three-run homer in the third inning. He crushed a 1-0 change-up, hitting it 412 feet, to left-center.
Those two homers and six of the runs were scored against Nationals’ rookie right-hander Jake Irvin, who was making his fourth big-league start. He will have better days. It took him 36 pitches to get through the first inning. He was at 75 when he was pulled with two outs in the third.
The homers kept coming. Matt Vierling hit a line drive homer to right-center off right-hander Hobie Harris in the fifth. That was his third homer this season. Riley Greene unloaded on a hanging sweeper by righty Thaddeus Ward, hitting a moonball into the seats in right. That was his fourth homer.
And speaking of ridding bad tastes. Boyd got just four outs in his previous start, against his hometown team the Mariners, no less.
He responded to that by throwing five innings of no-hit ball, facing the minimum 15 Washington batters. He issued a walk and he hit a batter, both erased with double-play balls.
He also got a spectacular defensive play by shortstop Javier Báez in the fifth. Former Tiger Jeimer Candelario hit a routine fly ball to center field but center fielder Greene lost the ball in the lights. Baez bailed him out, racing out 248 feet from home plate to run the ball down.
Ironically, it was another lost ball that ended Boyd’s no-hit bid in the sixth. Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz hit a line drive that right-fielder Vierling seemed to have a good beat on. But he lost it in the lights and never got his glove to it.
It was scored a double.
Boyd would not survive the sixth. He gave up an RBI double to CJ Abrams and a two-run home run to Lane Thomas, leaving with two outs and a five-run lead.
Englert got the third out of the sixth, stranding a pair of runners. But he walked the leadoff man in the seventh, gave up a single, a run-scoring wild pitch and then a two-run home run to Ruiz.
After a double by Alex Call, Englert gave way to Shreve, who got the next three outs, stranding Call at third base. Baez made another stellar defensive play. Playing in on the grass with Call at third and one out, he made a deft backhanded stop of a hard-hit ball by Thomas.
Foley got the first two outs in the eighth before walking Dominic Smith. Manager AJ Hinch went to Lange right away. He punched out pinch-hitter Corey Dickerson to end the inning and then set down the Nationals in the ninth to earn his eighth save.
