Whitlock grateful 'you always get tomorrow'

BOSTON -- Garrett Whitlock had been the feel-good story of April for the Red Sox, as the Rule 5 Draft pick who turned in one dominant outing on top of another out of the bullpen.

And he could still wind up being their feel-good story of the season. But thus far, May has not been so kind.

The righty served up a three-run homer to Jeimer Candelario in the top of the 10th to lift the Tigers to a 6-5 victory over the Red Sox in 10 innings on Wednesday night at soggy Fenway Park.

• Box score

“It's part of being a big leaguer,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “You're going to have good days and bad days, and he should be OK.”

Whitlock handled the defeat with the same even demeanor he displayed after so many of his strong performances in April.

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“It’s baseball, that’s the best thing about it is you always get tomorrow, and like I said, I’m just thankful to be here so each time AC gives me the ball, I’m going to go out and give it the best I can and try and help the team win,” he said.

After six scoreless outings -- covering 13 1/3 innings and including 18 strikeouts -- to open his career, Whitlock suffered his first blemish on Sunday in Texas when he allowed a solo homer to Isiah Kiner-Falefa. But that simply reduced a Boston lead from two runs to one.

Wednesday's mishap was more costly. Candelario beat Whitlock on a first-pitch sinker that was belt high and on the outer half of the strike zone.

“I was thinking, 'Get ahead with a fastball,' and tried to attack and induce a ground ball, and he put a good swing on it,” Whitlock said.

There was some misfortune earlier in the inning. With the automatic runner on second and nobody out, Whitlock appeared to have Jonathan Schoop on a called third strike on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, a 96.3-mph heater down the middle. Home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn ruled that it was low, though Statcast showed the pitch was in the strike zone.

“You’ve just got to focus on each pitch, and the umpire called it a ball, and so you move on from there and you try and attack the next pitch,” Whitlock said.

Whitlock’s next pitch was middle-middle and Schoop hit a little popup into short right field.

With catcher Christian Vázquez playing second base because Christian Arroyo had to exit due to soreness in his left wrist after he was hit by a pitch, the ball fell into no man’s land, and right fielder Hunter Renfroe couldn’t quite get to it. Had Arroyo still been in the game, the ball likely would have been caught.

Instead, Whitlock was staring at runners at the corners with nobody out when Candelario delivered the game-breaking hit.

Despite the frustrating loss for the Red Sox, the fourth in the last six games against sub.-500 opponents Detroit and Texas, there were some good things that happened on Wednesday.

J.D.’s smash into the bullpen
Red Sox slugger -- and former Tiger -- J.D. Martinez continues to come up big for his team.

With Boston down 3-1 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the star DH clocked an equalizing, two-run homer into Boston’s bullpen in right-center.

Martinez is tied with Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. for the MLB lead in homers with 10.

The Red Sox nearly won the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth when Xander Bogaerts hit a liner to left that had an expected batting average of .720. But it was caught by Tigers left fielder Robbie Grossman, sending the game into extras.

“[Bogaerts] hit it off the end, so the ball hung a little bit,” Cora said. “It was a good play. The way he hit it, he didn't hit it as hard as he usually does. I was hoping it would get down, but the ball just hung up there and [Grossman] made a nice catch.”

Another strong outing by Peréz
For the second consecutive start, Red Sox lefty Martín Pérez had a strong effort and nothing to show for it. Over 5 2/3 innings, Pérez allowed just two earned runs while striking out six, all looking.

The only damaging hit he allowed was a two-run single off the Monster by JaCoby Jones. If first baseman Marwin Gonzalez hadn’t stepped in front of second baseman Arroyo on a grounder earlier in the inning, Pérez would have never faced Jones in the sixth. When the Tigers scored their first run in the fourth, it was because Franchy Cordero booted a routine single by Jones, allowing Candelario to score from second on the error.

“I mean, tonight was good, and only one pitch changed the game,” Pérez said. “But like I say to my teammates, I think they hit my best pitch. So, I’m OK with that, and after that we were able to score some runs, tie the game, and I think the game was right there and everybody did a great job. So, just continue to do what we’ve been doing and be ready for tomorrow and win the series.”

In his first 10 Fenway Park starts for the Red Sox dating back to last season, Pérez is winless.