The Detroit Tigers (54-56) tied the series against the Boston Red Sox (49-62) in a game in which the bullpen was the deciding factor. Even before the season began, an ongoing discussion with the Red Sox is that their starting rotation needs to be fixed, but last night's game showed that their bullpen also needs a help. Before last night's game, their relievers had posted a .308 batting average against and a 5.40 ERA in the month of August. 

The Red Sox attacked first in the second inning when David Ortiz, the man of the hour for Boston, doubled to center field and Travis Shaw brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Boston's lead was boosted in the third inning with singles from Blake Swihart and Brock Holt and Rusney Castillo's force out that allowed the rookie catcher to score. 

With Wade Miley dealing against the Tigers, it seemed that the Red Sox were on pace for a win, but Detroit tied the game in the fifth inning with a single from Jefry Marte that was followed by a home run from Rajai Davis. 

Boston, however, regained the lead in the sixth inning with Ortiz's home run to center field, his 23rd home run of the year, which pushed him closer to 500 in his career. He now has 489 home runs.

Detroit tied the game again in the sixth with a single from Ian Kinsler and a double from J.D. Martìnez. Nick Castellanos singled after Martinez's double, and Miley threw a wild pitch that allowed Martinez to score. James McCann followed with a double, and Detroit took a 5-3 lead.

The Red Sox began the seventh inning with back-to-back singles from Alejandro De Aza and Swihart that proved vital for Boston. After a fly out from Jackie Bradley, Jr. and a pop out from Holt, Castillo cut Detroit's lead with a single that brought De Aaza home. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single and loaded the bases for Ortiz. Big Papi gave Boston the lead with a single that allowed Castillo and Swihart to score. Again, it seemed that Boston was on pace for a win.

Junichi Tazawa replaced Miley to begin the bottom half of the seventh inning and retired the first two batters he faced. Kinsler singled with two outs. Victor Martinez followed with a home run that gave Detroit the lead and became the vital point of the game.

Boston was unable to recover from that point on. The opportunity to win the game came in the ninth inning when Ortiz walked with two outs, but Pablo Sandoval was called out on strikes to end the game.

Ortiz triggered his 2016 option in this game when he had his 425th plate appearance of the year.