CINCINNATI _ Everything seemed good and right at the beginning. Opening day of the 2020 season, nearly four months late, but here at last.
The Tigers and Reds both lined up along the baselines, the Tigers socially distant along the third-base line and the Reds well-spaced on the first-base line, all kneeling on a long black ribbon while Black Lives Matter messages were relayed in a video on the giant scoreboard in left field.
"We all know what we're trying to do here _ awareness," said manager Ron Gardenhire, like the rest of the Tigers' and Reds' players wearing a BLM T-shirt before the game. "We want to make people aware of what's going on in our country. This is for respect. ... There are things in this country that need to change.
"We made a statement with these shirts."
But somewhere between the national anthem and the first pitch, Tigers lefty ace Matthew Boyd lost his mechanics.
It took him six hitters to find it but by then two runs had scored and the Reds were on their way to a 7-1 romp over Detroit on Friday.
Boyd needed 30 pitches to get out of the first. He gave up a walk, hit two batters (including former teammate Nick Castellanos with the bases loaded) and allowed singles to left-handed hitters Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas.
He bounced his first slider and didn't really seem to get a feel for it until the second inning. Of his 53 strikes, he got just eight swings and misses with two strikeouts. He did battle his way through five innings (88 pitches), but it was far from a typical outing for him.
Left-handed hitters typically haven't been a problem for Boyd, they hit just .236 off him last season. But the Reds lefties did damage. Votto homered off him in the fifth inning and Moustakas had two RBI singles, the second one scored Castellanos who had doubled in the third.
Moustakas ended up with four RBIs, after he sent a 3-1 hanging slider by reliever David McKay 421 feet into the seats in right in the seventh inning.
The Tigers hitters, meanwhile, were mostly being overmatched by Reds starter Sonny Gray. Through six innings, they'd collected just three hits. One, though, was a 447-foot shot into the seats in left field by C.J. Cron.
The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 112 mph.
But that was the only dent the Tigers made against Gray. He struck out nine in six innings. The Tigers didn't manage as much as a hit against a trio of Reds relievers, either.
Strikeouts have been a point of emphasis for the Tigers this offseason, after setting a major league record with 1,428 last season. They ended up with 13 strikeouts Friday, three by lead-off hitter Niko Goodrum. Jonathan Schoop, Christin Stewart and Austin Romine fanned twice each.
Not the start the Tigers had hoped for, to be sure.
