BOSTON -- With his mother, Dorothy Nugent, wrapped up in a blanket in the grandstands on a chilly Tuesday night at Fenway Park, Michael Chavis warmed her right up with a majestic homer that soared over the Green Monster and on to Landsdowne Street.

Boston's No. 1 prospect did not get cheated with his first homer in the Major Leagues. Chavis raked it at an exit velocity of 110.2 mph and a projected distance of 441 feet, according to Statcast. It was the longest home run hit by a Red Sox player this season.

"Oh, man, I'm sure she was going crazy," Chavis said of his mom, who traveled from Atlanta. "After the game, I gave her a big hug. Any time she can come out to a game it's special. Obviously we travel a lot and she doesn't get to come out as often as she likes, but her being here might have been the biggest part, honestly."

The certified missile by Chavis was the biggest highlight of a frustration-filled day for the Red Sox, who followed their three-game sweep of the Rays at Tropicana Field by getting swept in a day-night doubleheader by the Tigers.

After a 7-4 loss in Game 1, the Sox were edged out, 4-2, in the nightcap, leaving 13 runners on base in the process.

"It's disappointing," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "Obviously you don't want to lose two. I don't know how many we left on base, but it felt like the whole game we were one hit away from getting the lead, and then you felt like the line was going to keep moving, but it didn't happen."

But at least Chavis happened.

In his first work day at Fenway Park, Chavis started both ends of the doubleheader. He was called up to the Majors last weekend in St. Petersburg, and he smoked a double on Saturday night in his first Major League at-bat.

Then came the events of Tuesday. The homer by Chavis led off the bottom of the eighth, as the right-handed hitter mashed an 85.4-mph changeup from Victor Alcántara to trim what was once a 3-0 deficit down to one.

"I felt like I was floating, honestly," said Chavis. "Just kind of tried not to sprint. I've seen a couple of other guys hitting their first home runs and they sprint because they're so excited. I kind of tried to act like I had hit a home run before and stayed calm in that kind of moment. It was special for sure."

That was as close as Boston got, as the Tigers tacked on an insurance run in the ninth.

While the present state of affairs wasn't so uplifting for the Red Sox on a day they fell to 9-15, some glimpses of the future -- which could be coming sooner than you think -- presented some encouraging developments.

Before Chavis livened up the crowd with his towering shot, the Red Sox welcomed two of their top pitching prospects to the Major Leagues.

Of particular interest was the debut of Darwinzon Hernandez, who was called up between games as the 26th man. The lefty with electric stuff struck out four and didn't allow a run over 2 1/3 innings. He also showed poise weaving out of traffic.

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"The ball moves all over the place," said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. "Another guy that has good stuff. He's got a short arm. We haven't seen that much of him, so we're trying to gauge ourselves and try to pick it up and see what he's got. But he threw well."

And when Hernandez (Boston's No. 4 prospect) walked off the mound with runners at the corners and one out in the seventh to a nice ovation, the other prospect came in for his debut. That was righty Travis Lakins, and he got Hernandez out of that jam with no runs across. Lakins went 2 2/3 innings, giving up a run and striking out two.

"It's just the dream come true, you know?" Lakins said. "I've been playing ball since I was 4 years old and never experienced anything like this, never thought of being in this position, and it's just hard to describe."

The start the Red Sox are off to is equally hard to describe. The defending World Series champions didn't lose their 15th game until May 18 last year, at which time they were 30-15. This time the 15th defeat comes on April 23, just 24 games into the season.

"We know we can be better," said Cora. "We haven't had like a big offensive output out there that we can enjoy it and breathe and relax and just have fun offensively. Hopefully we can get it together and keep working at it, and it happens soon."

While the Red Sox work feverishly to cure what ails them, the Chavis family relished their memorable moment.

"It was very exciting. I'm humbled," said Nugent. "There truly aren't enough words to describe this when you think about a little kid at the age of 3 and 4 saying he wants to be a baseball player, which is every little kid's dream. It's amazing I'm sitting here at Fenway and the organization has been phenomenal. It's been incredible and I'm very, very blessed to be a part of it."