DETROIT — For most of the Boston Red Sox, Sunday was a day to forget.
It wasn’t a great success – they lost 10-5 to the Detroit Tigers as Justin Upton hit a pair of three-run homers off emergency starter Henry Owens – but rookie Andrew Benintendi is going to remember it for a long time.
Benintendi struck out in his last at-bat Friday night, then went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts Saturday. When Justin Verlander got him again in the third inning Sunday, he knew he needed to fix something.
“When you strike out five straight times, you have time to think about how the pitchers are attacking you,” he said. “I thought I had a pretty good idea what I should be expecting.”
Benintendi led off the sixth inning with a triple off Verlander, the first of his career.
Then in the seventh, Benintendi connected for his first home run, a drive off Shane Greene.
“That was pretty cool, especially because my family was here to see it,” he said. “I wasn’t sure it was going to get out until I saw J.D. (Martinez) give up on it. After that, I just wanted to run fast enough to avoid any trouble. You can’t jog on your first one.”
By then, the Red Sox were in a big hole after Owens allowed eight runs in five innings.
The game was scoreless in the third inning when the Tigers put runners on second and third with no outs. With two outs, Boston Manager John Farrell decided to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera to load the bases for Martinez.
Martinez, who entered the game hitting .438 since coming off the disabled list on Aug. 3, poked a 1-2 pitch down the right-field line for a two-run double. Upton followed with a drive into the left-field stands to make it 5-0.
“That’s definitely a case of picking your poison, and I don’t normally like to load the bases on my pitcher,” Farrell said. “I just thought Owens had a better chance of attacking Martinez, and he got him to chase a 1-2 pitch outside.”
“But he gets it inside the bag, and after that, it is the Justin Upton show,” he said.
Owens (0-1) didn’t find out he was pitching until late Saturday night and didn’t arrive in Detroit until the early morning hours. Eduardo Rodriguez was expected to return from a hamstring injury to pitch but felt discomfort during Saturday’s game, so Owens was summoned from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Upton, who was mired in a 3-for-35 slump entering the game, struck again for another three-run homer in the fifth inning.
“This was a good day,” he said. “It’s my brother’s birthday, Mom and Dad are here and my wife and kid are here,” Upton said.
The Tigers won for just the fourth time in 14 games. Boston has lost just two of its last 10.
Verlander (13-7) allowed one run on three hits in six innings before being pulled with a nine-run lead. He is 6-1 in his last 10 starts.
The Red Sox scored four times off Greene in the seventh, including Benintendi’s two-run homer.
In his last scheduled game in Detroit, David Ortiz hit a 111-mph drive down the right-field line for a double in the first inning.
Ortiz batted for the final time in the eighth and received long standing ovations both before and after he grounded out. He tipped his cap to the crowd as he walked off.
NOTES: Red Sox infielder Devin Marrero was optioned back to Pawtucket to clear room for Owens. … Farrell announced after the game that knuckleballer Stephen Wright is expected to return from the disabled list this weekend for a start against Kansas City.
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