Game 36: Red Sox at Tigers — The one where the game takes a backseat to injury updates

TL;DR

The Red Sox received positive injury updates ahead of their game against the Tigers, with some players unavailable but others potentially returning soon. Brayan Bello will not start tonight, as the team opts for Jovani Moran instead.

Key points

Red Sox received positive injury updates before the game.
Roman Anthony will not play, but others may return soon.
Jovani Moran is starting instead of Brayan Bello.
Framber Valdez has a 3.35 ERA this season.
Game starts at 6:40 PM at Comerica Park.

Boston Red SoxDetroit Tigers

May 4, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras (40) in the field in the third inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images First, the good news. The Red Sox got a slew of cautiously optimistic injury updates this afternoon from Comerica Park in Detroit. First up, Roman Anthony: He won’t be available these last couple of games in Detroit, but in the grand scheme of things, this is far from the worst update we could have gotten today. Next up, Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez: If we fill in the rest of the blanks here and get Ranger Suarez to start Saturday and then Payton Tolle on Sunday before the off day on Monday, the Red Sox may finally be tracking towards a scenario where they can get Brayan Bello out of the rotation. (Fingers crossed!) Unfortunately though, they won’t be able to keep him off the mound tonight. Now as you’ll probably notice in the lineups below, the Red Sox are actually not starting Brayan Bello tonight — instead going with . Bello however will likely appear as the bulk guy somewhere in the game as the Red Sox play lefty / righty matchups and try to minimize the bullpen damage as much as possible. It’s a last ditch effort to try and make a Bello game competitive (good luck with that!). In fact, the effects of his ineffectiveness are reaching all the way down to Worcester as we got this tweet from Tommy Cassell today. In other words, even the team is preparing for another Bello bludgeoning. If all that wasn’t bad enough, take a look at tonight’s lineup. There’s no Roman Anthony as we discussed above, but there’s also no and because there’s a lefty on the mound. It gets even worse when you consider that lefty is and that his 3.35 ERA this year is being inflated by one bad start in where he gave up eight runs. In the other six combined outings, he’s only given up seven earned runs in 35.1 innings. Oh, and in addition to all of this, and have both pitched in back to back games, so Chad Tracy is probably going to want to stay away from them tonight if possible. In other words, the only reason to expect a win from the Red Sox in this game is because baseball is baseball and at times it likes to be the dumbest sport ever and produce stunningly unexplainable results. Short of that happening though, the Red Sox have already kind of won in the big picture today with those injury updates, so we’ll just have to suffer through tonight.

Q&A

What injury updates did the Red Sox receive before the game against the Tigers?

The Red Sox reported cautiously optimistic injury updates, noting that Roman Anthony won't play but others may return soon.

Who is starting for the Red Sox instead of Brayan Bello?

Jovani Moran is starting for the Red Sox in place of Brayan Bello for tonight's game against the Tigers.

What is Framber Valdez's ERA this season?

Framber Valdez has a 3.35 ERA this season, which is affected by one bad start where he gave up eight runs.

What time is the Red Sox vs. Tigers game scheduled to start?

The Red Sox vs. Tigers game is scheduled to start at 6:40 PM at Comerica Park in Detroit.

RED SOX	TIGERS
Jarren Duran – LF	Matt Vierling – CF
Willson Contreras – 1B	Kevin McGonigle – SS
Wilyer Abreu – RF	Jahmai Jones – DH
Trevor Story – SS	Dillon Dingler – C
Ceddanne Rafaela – CF	Riley Greene – LF
Andruw Monasterio – DH	Wenceel Perez – RF
Caleb Durbin – 3B	Spencer Torkelson – 1B
Connor Wong – C	Zach McKinstry – 3B
Isiah Kiner-Falefa – 2B	Hao-Yu Lee – 2B

Jovani Morán – RHP	Framber Valdez – LHP
⚾️ First Pitch:6:40pm — Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
📺 TV:NESN
📻 Radio:WEEI

Game 36: Red Sox at Tigers — The one where the game takes a backseat to injury updates

TL;DR

Key points

Q&A

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