BOSTON _ In his spare time, Ronny Rodriguez is a rap artist.
And on Tuesday afternoon at Fenway Park, "El Felino" recorded a few of his greatest hits.
Rodriguez played the best game of his short career, going 3 for 4 with a home run, two doubles and a pair of nice defensive plays at shortstop. But the biggest hit came from Josh Harrison, who dropped to seventh in the order.
After Rodriguez doubled to put runners on second and third base with one out in the top of the eighth, Harrison lifted a breaking ball off the Green Monster in left field. The Detroit Tigers won the opener of a day-night doubleheader, beating the Red Sox, 7-4.
Left-hander Matthew Boyd earned the win, pitching seven solid innings. Boyd allowed three runs on three hits, walked two batters and struck out three.
He gave way to the bullpen in the eighth inning, with Daniel Stumpf and Victor Alcantara keeping Boston off the board.
Rodriguez and catcher Grayson Greiner each hit solo home runs. Greiner padded the two-run lead with a single following Harrison's double, and Miguel Cabrera drove in another insurance run in the ninth.
Against Red Sox ace Chris Sale and a sub-par bullpen, the Tigers totaled 12 hits.
Boyd's consistency continued on Tuesday afternoon, stepping up to a tall task � facing a powerful Red Sox lineup in a stadium that often eats up left-handed pitching. Boyd made one real mistake, hanging a curveball to Mookie Betts in the second inning, which resulted in a two-run single. Xander Bogaerts re-tied the game with a solo home run in the sixth on a competitive up-and-in pitch. Otherwise, Boyd was solid again, recording outs both on the ground and in the air.
Before the Tigers' bats woke up in earnest, they battled Sale, chasing him from the game after 96 pitches in five innings. The tone was set in a 23-pitch first inning. Earlier, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said he hoped this would not be the game Sale _ who entered the game at 0-4 with an 8.50 ERA _ got back on track. He struck out 10 batters _ everyone in the starting lineup but Cabrera _ but the Tigers scored twice, and did a good job of neutralizing him.
There was Rodriguez, who has been shaky at shortstop, making nice plays, particularly, starting a double play on a back-hand in the first inning. Trailing 2-0, Rodriguez took a run back on an RBI double in the fourth, gave the Tigers the lead with a home run in the sixth and doubled in the eighth. Greiner was close behind: He tied the game with a no-doubt home run off Sale in the fifth and lined an RBI single up the middle in the eighth. Greiner has been hitting the ball hard as of late.
