Crawford helps Red Sox to first sweep of '23

DETROIT -- On a day when the Red Sox offense was kept a little more quiet, it was up to the pitchers to carry more of the load.

Starter Kutter Crawford, coming off an outing against the Pirates in which he gave up seven earned runs in four innings, showed he was up to the task in Boston’s 4-1 victory over the Tigers on Sunday at Comerica Park.

The win helped the Red Sox earn the road sweep, taking some of the sting out of getting swept at home by the Pirates.

“It was great,” said first baseman Triston Casas, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a home run. “Coming off the loss to Pittsburgh, we knew that we needed a bounce-back series and I’m glad we got it.

“Kutter threw an awesome game today. Connor [Wong] and Rob [Refsnyder] came up with some big hits as well and I was able to contribute, which felt great. But overall as a series, I think we hit well and pitched and played good defense. Got a lot of momentum going into Tampa now.”

Things didn’t start as well as Crawford could have imagined.

In the first, shortstop Kiké Hernández couldn’t get Javier Báez, who beat out an infield single. Then Kerry Carpenter struck out, but reached on a wild pitch that got away from Wong before Spencer Torkelson followed with an RBI single.

“Elevated fastballs,” manager Alex Cora said. “He got a few swings and misses up there. I think that was the key. Obviously we didn’t make one play up the middle and then the strikeout. They scored in that inning, but after that he settled down, made pitches and gave us a chance.”

The one run was all Crawford allowed in his five innings.

“I think I executed better, and I think being able to pitch off my fastball, using my fastball more kind of opened up things and I was able to kind of move it around the zone, up, down, in and out, kind of really opened up more options for me later in the count,” Crawford said.

Crawford struck out six and did not walk anyone.

“He was pretty dominant with his fastball,” Refsnyder said. “I know they were talking about in the warmups that his fastball was carrying well, obviously he was mixing in that cutter a bunch. His velo was up to 95-96 [mph] on the fastball. Defense behind him was playing really, really well, but Kutter was really, really dominant. Just attacking the strike zone. His repertoire is really, really challenging for lineups to navigate through. Kutter looked great. I’m really, really happy for him.”

Refsnyder had an RBI single in the fifth and Justin Turner hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall each finished 1-for-4. Duvall exited the game in the ninth after appearing to hurt his left wrist diving for a ball.

The Red Sox now head to St. Petersburg to face a 9-0 Rays team that has won its last two games by 11-0 scores. Although Crawford won’t pitch in that four-game series, he’s hopeful Boston’s sweep in Detroit will provide a spark.

“I think it’s huge,” Crawford said. “Being able to sweep any series, much less on the road, I think it’s huge for the team and hopefully boost us into the Tampa series.”

Casas came into Sunday’s game hitting just .130 with one home run and five RBIs.

Before the game, Cora thought facing a left-hander might help the left-handed-hitting Casas see the ball a little better.

Casas hit an RBI double off Tigers left-handed starter Matt Boyd in the second inning, and then hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve in the ninth.

“He hit a foul ball the other way, he fought off pitches in a 3-2 count, I think it was, against Boyd,” Cora said. “He’s a good lefty. Different angle, good ride, pitched inside against lefties. That’s what I meant. He can hit lefties and righties, he did a good job in Spring Training with them and I thought today he put two good swings and gave us a chance to win.”

Of Casas’ five hits this season, four have gone for extra bases. He has two doubles and two homers.

“As much as I want to say I don’t have a difference in my numbers, they don’t lie,” Casas said. “It felt good to hit a couple balls hard. I don’t really change my approach, righty vs. lefty, I just try to see a good pitch, hit it.”