DETROIT — In a span of three pitches, what would have been the best victory of the season so far for the Red Sox turned into their worst loss.
Javier Báez crumpled the Sox with a three-run walk-off home run in the 11th inning as the Detroit Tigers escaped with a 10-9 victory at Comerica Park on Tuesday night.
“It feels terrible,” said Greg Weissert, who allowed the game-winning shot.
A day after losing by 12 runs, the Sox seemed headed for another setback before David Hamilton hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning.
“Felt good in the moment,” said Hamilton, who like the rest of his teammates was downcast after the game.
The Sox took a 7-6 lead in the 10th inning on Ceddanne Rafaela’s fielder’s choice only to see Trey Sweeney tie it again on a two-out, two-strike single off Weissert.
The Sox delivered a bigger punch in the 11th inning when rookie Kristian Campbell homered to right field with two outs.
He had been 3 for 34 since being moved to cleanup before delivering what seemed like the game-winning blast.
“That was tremendous,” Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Cora stayed with Weissert to finish the game. His only other available reliever was Liam Hendriks.
“We needed to stretch [Weissert] out,” Cora said.
Weissert threw 22 pitches in the 10th inning. His high for the season was 31 over 1 innings.
With a ghost runner on second, Weissert allowed a single by Jace Jung. His next pitch was a sweeper that stayed over the plate, and Báez drilled it into the home bullpen in left field.
Sox catcher Carlos Narváez took his mask off and walked away from the plate as the ball sailed through the night air and Báez raised his arms.
Báez looked to be on the verge of being released last season, so poor was his play. He has hit .319 with an .870 OPS and 27 RBIs this season for the 28-15 Tigers, who have the best record in the American League.
“This guy at one point was kind of one of the best players in baseball … he looks like he’s back,” said Cora, who was a stunned as his players.
Tigers fans were chanting “Javy, Javy” as they left the park. Detroit is 16-5 at home.
Before the game became a whirlwind of big hits, Brennan Bernardino, Justin Slaten, and Aroldis Chapman combined on three scoreless innings.
Slaten, who had not registered a strikeout since April 26, whiffed the side in the bottom of the eighth inning. Chapman had a perfect ninth, sending the game to extra innings.
Rafael Devers, the reigning American League Player of the Week, was 0 for 6 with three strikeouts, leaving four men on base.
Sox starter Brayan Bello had an uneven outing, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits over 4 innings. He issued two leadoff walks that came around to score, one to Báez.
Alex Bregman homered leading off the fourth inning to make it 2-2.
Detroit took a 3-2 lead when Spencer Torkelson homered leading off the fourth. Bello left a sinker over the plate.
Hamilton, who played shortstop in place of slumping Trevor Story, singled leading off the fifth inning. He scored when Rafaela dropped a double down the left field line.
Jarren Duran followed with a single to left and the Sox had their first lead of the series, 4-3.
Garrett Whitlock’s rough stretch continued when he walked Torkelson leading off the sixth inning. Whitlock struck out the next two batters before hitting Jung with a two-strike slider.
Báez lined a slider into the stands in left field. Weissert’s slider was in the same spot five innings later.
“Javy, being smart, was probably sitting on a slider because I couldn’t throw a fastball for a strike,” Whitlock said. “It feels awful. It’s just really bad today.”
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.
