Boyd's no-hit bid ends in sixth, Tigers hit four homers to beat Nats in opener

Washington, D.C. – The Tigers hit four home runs, built an 8-0 lead and Matthew Boyd took a no-hitter into the sixth inning Friday night against the Washington Nationals.

And it very nearly got away from them.

"If we're going to preach play the whole game, then we're going to have to manage the whole game and be ready for the entire game," manager AJ Hinch said after the Tigers held on for an 8-6 win in the first of a three-game series at Nationals Field.

The Nationals chased Boyd with three runs in the sixth inning and then chased reliever Mason Englert with three more in the seventh.

But it ended there. Chasen Shreve quelled the rally in the seventh and then Jason Foley and Alex Lange locked down the eighth and ninth.

"At the start of the day, if you said we'd be up 8-6 with Foley and Lange coming in, you'd take it," Hinch said. "The way we went about it, though, it was a little more stressful than we'd like."

BOX SCORE: Tigers 8, Nationals 6

Let's start with thunder.

The Tigers’ hitters came into the game with the taste of that ugly 8-0 loss to the Pirates still in their mouths from Wednesday. They managed just one hit in that game, none after the first batter in the first inning.

They rinsed and spit that taste out proper.

Zach McKinstry started the game with an opposite-field homer to right-center. He hoisted a 1-2 curveball for his third of the season and his first ever leadoff homer.

"Rounding third base, the guys in the dugout were ready to go," McKinstry said. "And they followed up well. We hit the ball well all night...It felt great. I was super excited to see it go over the fence. Break up that no-hitter with a homer early (laughing)."

Akil Baddoo, who had singled in a run in the first, hit a three-run homer in the third inning. He crushed a 1-0 changeup, hitting it 412 feet, to right-center.

Those two homers and six of the runs were scored against Nationals’ rookie right-hander Jake Irvin, who was making his fourth big-league start. He will have better days. It took him 36 pitches to get through the first inning. He was at 75 when he was pulled with two outs in the third.

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"Mac's (McKinstry's) homer was big," catcher Eric Haase said. "It affects the way you pitch the next inning. It affects what their next hitter is looking for going up to the plate. It puts pressure on them right from the get-go."

The home runs kept coming. Matt Vierling hit a line drive homer to right-center off right-hander Hobie Harris in the fifth. That was his third homer this season. Riley Greene unloaded on a hanging sweeper by righty Thaddeus Ward, hitting a moonball into the seats in right. That was his fourth homer.     

And speaking of ridding bad tastes. Boyd got just four outs in his previous start, against his hometown team the Mariners, no less.

He responded to that by throwing five innings of no-hit ball, facing the minimum 15 Washington batters. He issued a walk and he hit a batter, both erased with double-play balls.

"That's more of what we see from Matt on a normal basis," Haase said. "That last start, he wasn't landing his spin, he wasn't behind his heater. Something was going on with his delivery. It was just an ugly start and he was looking to turn the page.

"Tonight he was getting behind his heater and landing his breaking stuff. That's the Matt Boyd we're looking for."

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Boyd also got a spectacular defensive play by shortstop Javier Báez in the fifth. Former Tiger Jeimer Candelario hit a routine fly ball to center field but center fielder Greene lost the ball in the lights. Baez bailed him out, racing out 248 feet from home plate to run the ball down.

Ironically, it was another lost ball that ended Boyd’s no-hit bid in the sixth. Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz hit a line drive that right-fielder Vierling seemed to have a good beat on. But he lost it in the lights and never got his glove to it.

It was scored a double.

Boyd would not survive the sixth. He gave up an RBI double to CJ Abrams and a two-run home run to Lane Thomas, leaving with two outs and a five-run lead.

"I thought he was a little more east and west as that sixth inning went on," said Hinch, meaning Boyd's slider flattened out. "He tried to create some shapes and I think he got a little bit tentative with his pitches trying to make perfect pitches and falling into some bad counts and making mistakes."

Boyd, though, was far more encouraged by the adjustments that led to the five strong innings than he was discouraged by the sixth.

"We start to deviate over time," Boyd said. "We felt we were in a really good spot in spring training. We're just slowly getting back into different cues and lining things up and letting the fastball play up and landing the offspeed for strikes where I want to. It turned out really well."

Englert got the third out of the sixth, stranding a pair of runners. But he walked the leadoff man in the seventh, gave up a single, a run-scoring wild pitch and then a two-run home run to Ruiz.

After a double by Alex Call, Englert gave way to Shreve, who got the next three outs, stranding Call at third base.

"Those outs were huge," Boyd said.

Baez made another stellar defensive play. Playing in on the grass with Call at third and one out, he made a deft backhanded stop of a hard-hit ball by Thomas.

Foley got the first two outs in the eighth before walking Dominic Smith. At that point, Nationals manager Dave Martinez sent up left-handed hitting Corey Dickerson to pinch hit for Stone Garrett.

Hinch countered with Lange right away.

"We knew Dickerson was over there and he was going to pinch-hit," Hinch said. "If they wanted to leave the right-hander in (Garrett), then we have Foley. If they want to bring in the lefty, we have Lange. It's nice to have both of those guys there."

Lange punched out Dickerson to end the inning and then set down the Nationals in the ninth to earn his eighth save.

"Langer is awesome," Haase said. "Any situation that he comes into you, you are going to have to beat him. He's going to have his best stuff. Keeping it in the zone is the whole difference. His stuff is disgusting."

cmccosky@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @cmccosky