Greg Weissert gave up a walk-off home run to Javy Báez on Tuesday night, but he wasn’t the only Red Sox reliever who surrendered a three-run blast to the two-time All-Star at Comerica Park.
With Boston clinging to a one-run lead over Detroit in the sixth inning, Alex Cora called on Garrett Whitlock to replace starter Brayan Bello. After striking out two and allowing a pair to reach, Whitlock went toe-to-toe with Báez, the Tigers’ No. 9 hitter.
Unable to lean on his fastball, the veteran right-hander tried to sneak a slider past the 12th-year pro. Whitlock found no such luck, as Báez launched a go-ahead, 392-foot home run to the left field bleachers. El Mago’s second dinger of the game wasn’t as long, but it had more than enough distance to hand Boston a devastating loss in the 11th inning.
Whitlock, who allowed multiple runs in three of his last five outings, was very hard on himself after not keeping Detroit off the scoreboard.
“I didn’t throw fastballs for strikes so I’m pretty pissed at myself for that,” Whitlock told reporters, per MassLive. “Put two guys on because of it, then Javy being smart probably was sitting for a slider because I couldn’t throw a fastball for a strike. He didn’t miss it. That was terrible by me and I’ve got to be better than that.
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“It feels awful. It was just really bad today. Got brought in to do a job and didn’t do it. They basically could eliminate a pitch today because I didn’t have it. When that’s one of my main strengths and I don’t have it, it’s easy to hit me.”
Tuesday’s contest told a familiar story for the Red Sox, who suffered their 11th one-run loss of the season. Boston will try to avoid a sweep in Motown on Wednesday when the clubs meet for the series finale, which will have full coverage on NESN beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
