Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 6/21/2022

Time: 7:10 p.m. ET

Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA

Where to watch: Bally Sports Detroit, NESN

DraftKings: Red Sox -195, Tigers +165

BetMGM: Red Sox -190, Tigers +155

Caesars: Red Sox -189, Tigers +170

Tigers: 26-41

Red Sox: 37-31

I honestly wish I could spend today's space talking about the Boston Red Sox's uniforms on Monday. You see them in the picture. They have absolutely no red in them. Like, not even a hint. Even their helmets were blue and yellow. They're the Marathon City Connect jerseys and I honestly have no idea if I like them or not. The "Boston" on the front is cool, has a subway-type font to it, and I dig it. The numbers on the back? With the 3-D effect? Very weird. Yet cool. I don't know.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox won a game in them on Monday and they may have to wear them until they lose. The Red Sox won 5-2 in the first game of the three-game set on Monday thanks to the help of some of those called up from the minors in recent days. Jarren Duran had two hits and stole two bases, and Josh Winckowski went 6.2 innings and allowed only two runs in the longest start of his young career.

Add a 3-hit, 2-RBI day from Franchy Cordero in the seven spot in the lineup, and all in all it was another successful outing for the Red Sox, or Yellow and Blue Sox, whichever you want to call them. Either way, they're one win from their sixth straight series victory and they continue to creep up the standings as they near the halfway mark.

"Last outing, I drove up here the day of the game," said the 23-year-old right-hander Winckowski, who earned himself another turn through the rotation. "Being able to be up here the last five days was huge."

The Red Sox have needed some sort of solidity in the rotation, and the youngster has been ablke to provide that. They've also benefited from having the young guys in the lineup come up and deliver big hits, just like Duran did.

"He's been like that all year," said Winckowski, who was also with Duran in Triple-A Worcester. "All the guys in Triple-A are watching him and they're like, ‘How do you keep this guy here.'"

The Tigers' good fortune after taking two of four against the Texas Rangers over the weekend died fairly quickly. Detroit was able to get 10 hits, with two apiece from Javy Baez and Spencer Torkelson, but not enough runs. The middle of the lineup each got a hit for the Tigers, but couldn't provide enough run support for Alex Faedo. He went 4.1 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits.

The rookie dropped to 1-4 with a 4.67 ERA this season. He, like the rest of his teammates, are just trying to figure things out.

“Tonight, I learned that every pitch matters,” Faedo said. “Threw a couple of breaking balls, get-me-over strikes, and they took advantage. So just got to be a little bit more crisp on those.”

His manager, however, continues to find progress.

“Just that he can make adjustments on the fly,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “When they stack the lefties the way they have these left-handed hitters, and you got to get them out in different ways. You can't sequence the same way. He's got to make adjustments and make pitches, and he did that in order to hang in there when they put pressure on him. He made some big pitches and escaped some big innings.”

Beau Brieske (1-5, 3.79 ERA) will take the mound for the Tigers against veteran lefty Rich Hill, who is only 2-4 with a 4.42 ERA but has found instances where he's pitched well enough to win.

Perhaps the yellow and blue are good luck for Boston. Until they lose, let it ride, I suppose. At least they're not something crazy like magenta, or something. Red Sox win 7-4

Tigers are 55-84 on the road the past three seasons.

Tigers are 7-12 against AL East opponents this season.

Red Sox are 31-14 in June the past three seasons.

Red Sox are 16-21 the past three seasons when a home favorite between -150 and -200.

Tigers:
Victor Reyes (S) RF
Harold Castro (L) 3B
Robbie Grossman (S) LF
Javier Baez (R) SS
Riley Greene (L) CF
Spencer Torkelson (R) 1B
Eric Haase (R) DH
Jonathan Schoop (R) 2B
Tucker Barnhart (S) C
SP - Beau Brieske

Red Sox:
Rob Refsnyder (R) RF
Rafael Devers (L) 3B
J.D. Martinez (R) DH
Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Trevor Story (R) 2B
Christian Vazquez (R) C
Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF
Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B
SP - Rich Hill

Batting average: Miguel Cabrera -- .291

Home runs: Jonathan Schoop -- 5

RBI: Miguel Cabrera -- 22

Wins: Tarik Skubal -- 5

ERA: Tarik Skubal -- 3.13

Batting average: J.D. Martinez -- .335

Home runs: Rafael Devers -- 16

RBI: Trevor Story -- 45

Wins: Nick Pivetta -- 7

ERA: Nathan Eovaldi -- 3.16