Dingler's blast propels Tigers over Crochet, Sox at rain-soaked Fenway

BOSTON -- The Tigers’ offense had been quieted by Boston’s pitching staff for much of their series, and that was again the case on a dreary Sunday at Fenway Park -- until a two-out rally in the fifth opened things up for the visitors who were able to capture a 6-2 victory.

Due to weather conditions, the game’s start time was pushed from 1:35 p.m. to 4:35 p.m., but the cloudy conditions never cleared, and temps hovered in the mid-40s at first pitch.

“That was awesome,” manager A.J. Hinch said of his team’s effort. “Our guys did a good job of battling through the conditions, obviously against a really good pitcher. They had some really big swings. Pretty much every guy contributed in one way or another, which is always fun to have a team win.”

Garrett Crochet did allow Detroit to gain an early, 1-0, lead in a pair of back-to-back doubles from Matt Vierling and Dillon Dingler in the first inning.

Boston would even things up in the bottom half of the frame on a Willson Contreras solo home run, the first long ball allowed by Framber Valdez this season.

Both starters would settle down in the following innings, Crochet notching six strikeouts through four innings while Valdez retired nine in a row at one point.

In the top of the fifth inning, Crochet opened with two more K's before Jahmai Jones jacked his first home run of the season, taking a 2-0 offering off of the bottom of the left-center-field light pole atop the Green Monster.

“You're talking about one of the best pitchers in the game,” said Jones. “This guy is really good, we knew that coming today, so game plan was really just to hunt our pitch.”

“He’s a big part of this,” Hinch said of Jones. “I love Jahmai, especially against these lefties. He provides energy, he provides good at-bats, he hits the ball hard.”

Detroit was not done there. Gleyber Torres followed with a walk, Vierling singled and then Dingler stepped up and launched a 3-1 fastball a Statcast-projected 397 feet to dead center for a three-run homer and a 5-1 advantage.

Dingler finished the day 4-for-5 and drove in a career-high four RBIs, while Vierling added two hits and scored twice.

“I feel good about that,” said Dingler, who became the first Tigers player since Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera in 2013 to record 18+ RBIs in their first 16 starts of the season. “I feel like I’m doing a good job controlling the zone and getting good pitches to hit. I’m just going to try to continue that.”

Valdez earned his second win of the season, tossing six innings of one-run ball, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out a season-high seven.

“He did a great job of just dealing with the elements and then coming out and filling up the strike zone,” said Hinch. “Mentally, today, I thought he did a really good job. Even when Contreras hit the home run, he reset and put up some zeros.”

Through the first three games of the series, Detroit pitching has allowed only four runs and 15 hits, with 31 combined strikeouts.

“The key has always been for us, being united, all the position players, the hitters, the coaching staff, all together,” Valdez said of the team’s recent run of success. “Having great communication has been key for all of us.”

Detroit will look for a series win on Monday, with an early 11:10 a.m. ET start time due to the Patriots' Day holiday in Massachusetts.

“We’re just trying to come out and close out a series,” Jones concluded. “Just because it's 11:00 a.m. doesn't mean the opponent’s any different. They’re still a good team over there, so we’ve got to come out and play a good game tomorrow.”