The Detroit Tigers refused to quit.

Still, they were overpowered by big swings from the Boston Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning.

The Tigers lost, 7-5, to the Red Sox on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park. A three-run home run in the eighth inning from slugger Kerry Carpenter snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak, but the Tigers — despite forcing extra innings — were unable to complete the comeback.

In the 10th, right-hander reliever Shelby Miller allowed a two-run home run to Ceddanne Rafaela on a two-strike elevated fastball. The next batter, Jarren Duran, hit a solo home run off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton, crushing a first-pitch sinker.

Right-hander starter Casey Mize gave up four runs across six innings in his return from the injured list. He hadn’t pitched for the Tigers since June 30 because of a left hamstring strain.

“A little sluggish, a little slow,” said Mize, who completed four rehab starts with Triple-A Toledo. “I think I finished better than I started, but certainly not good enough. I need to be better. Obviously, not good enough.”

The Tigers (68-68) have lost two straight following a six-game winning streak. As a result, the Tigers have slipped to 5½ games out of the final spot in the American League wild-card race, with 26 games remaining in the 2024 season.

As Mize battled, the Tigers were shut out until the eighth inning, when Carpenter hit a three-run home run off Red Sox left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino.

The three runs in the eighth inning were sparked by Andy Ibáñez’s walk and Matt Vierling’s single. Carpenter hasn’t been successful against left-handed pitchers in limited opportunities, but he pushed Bernardino’s first-pitch sinker — located up-and-away — for an opposite-field homer to left field.

It was Carpenter’s first homer off a lefty pitcher in 2024.

“It’s a tough matchup,” Hinch said of Carpenter, who entered Friday’s game hitting .048 (1-for-21) in 24 plate appearances against lefties this season. “He did a good job of hanging in there and taking a good approach.”

After making it a one-run game, the Tigers opened the ninth with Zach McKinstry’s leadoff single off right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen. McKinstry immediately stole second to advance into scoring position. With one out, Jake Rogers smoked a first-pitch cutter at the top of the strike zone for a double to score McKinstry and tie the game at 4-4.

The Tigers had a chance to walk-off the Red Sox, but Riley Greene struck out swinging on Jansen’s cutter way above the strike zone to strand Rogers at third base.

In the top of the 10th, the go-ahead homer from Rafaela snapped Miller’s streak of nine relief appearances without a run. Miller threw three elevated fastballs in a row to Rafaela, who whiffed at the first two before driving the third one to left-center, into the second row of seats.

“I’ll stand by that decision all day,” said Rogers, who called the three fastballs in a row. “Obviously, it’s not the right call. We’d be in a different position if I made a different call. We went up, went up higher and went up even higher. I’m not mad at that one. It sucks to go down there, but it’s obviously the wrong pitch call. I need to be better about that. But it’s impressive, honestly, that he hit a ball like that.”

Greene, who served as the free runner in extra innings, scored in the bottom of the 10th inning on consecutive outs, making it 7-5, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.

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Casey Mize returns

The Tigers fell behind in the first inning.

Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, allowed four runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 85 pitches. He has a 4.36 ERA in 17 starts.

“I thought Casey was good, in his own way,” Hinch said. “He was pretty efficient because they were swinging early. He’s going to be frustrated with the way it ended. From a volume standpoint, it was very positive. I thought he was good at times and also misfired at times.”

In the first, Mize surrendered a leadoff double to Duran on the first pitch of the game. Two batters later, Duran scored on a groundout for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.

The Red Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, soon after another double from Duran. The Red Sox then made it 3-0 with Connor Wong’s double after Mize walked Tyler O’Neill on six pitches in the fourth inning.

He registered three of his four strikeouts in the sixth inning, but with two outs and two strikes, Wong pulled a down-and-away slider for a solo home run, the fourth and final run against Mize.

“I wanted that one to be off the plate,” Mize said. “It catches some plate, but it’s at the bottom rail of the zone. Not a horrible pitch, but in the context of 0-2 and two outs, probably needs to be better, for sure. It was a gut punch of a home run there.”

Mize generated nine whiffs on 40 swings — a 22.5% whiff rate — with four fastballs, one splitter, two sliders and two curveballs. There was a lot of hard contact on the 20 balls in play from the Red Sox.

His fastball averaged 93.9 mph, down 1.7 mph from his average fastball velocity in the 16 starts.

“The velocity has been in line with what the rehab outings have been,” Mize said. “Definitely a little bit down from pre-injury. My body feels great. I think it’s just a little bit of my brain catching up, realizing my legs are OK. It’s going to take a little bit of time to move the exact same way I was pre-injury, but physically, I feel great. I think we’ll get there.”

Before Carp’s homer

Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck carved up the Tigers for most of Friday’s game. He fired six scoreless innings on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts, using 95 pitches.

The Tigers didn’t get a hit against Houck until McKinstry’s leadoff single in the fifth inning.

McKinstry was later thrown out while trying to advance from first to third on Parker Meadows’ single, ending the inning. Hinch wanted to challenge, but umpire Chris Guccione determined Hinch didn’t decide to challenge within his allotted 15 seconds.

“Yeah, we ran out of time,” Hinch said. “The information afterwards, it’s probably a coin flip that it even gets overturned. That’s why he pointed to his watch.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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Vet Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday took part in the opening of a new Raising Cane’s store on the company’s 28th anniversary on this past Wednesday morning, joining fellow Boston sports legend David Ortiz at the event. The Red Sox champion and the Celtics champ sat down with the media to talk all things Boston sports, food, and more at the event, which also featured recording artist Jake performing a viral hit at the ribbon-cutting.

The restaurant, decked out in pretty much gold everything for the occasion, had a line of fans waiting outside wrapping around the block excited for a glimpse at these two local sports icons (and many of them, a tasty meal).

The folks behind the CLNS Media “Celtics All Access on CLNS” YouTube channel caught it all on video for your viewing pleasure. Check it out below!

If you enjoy this pod, check out the “How Bout Them Celtics,” “First to the Floor,” “Celtics Lab,” and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Jrue Holiday giving out chicken to Celtics fans (yes, really!)

The No. 10-ranked (for now but not for long) Florida State Seminoles football team is moving forward after an opening loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Ireland, starting the bounce back at home against the Boston College Eagles on Labor Day.

Kickoff from Doak Campbell Stadium is slated for 7:30 p.m. eastern on ESPN. Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick will have the call, with Kris Budden on the sidelines.

FSU leads the all-time series with Boston College 16-5, and the Seminoles are 14-4 against the Eagles since they joined the ACC in 2005. FSU has won five straight and 12 of the last 13 games in the series.

The last meeting between the two teams came in 2023, with Florida State hanging on for a 31-29 win in Chestnut Hill. FSU nearly gave the game away after leading 31-10 in the third quarter, but a timely Kalen Deloach sack and a crucial BC penalty allowed FSU to run the clock out. Jordan Travis completed 16 of 24 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 38 yards. Johnny Wilson caught four balls for 105 yards and Jaheim Bell caught five passes for 76 yards and a touchdown, while DJ Lundy intercepted a pass and then punched in a one-yard rushing touchdown. BC’s Thomas Castellanos threw for 305 yards and one touchdown and ran for 95 and another score, but BC set a school record with 18 penalties.

According to DraftKings, as of this writing the Seminoles are 16.5-point favorites against the Eagles, with the over/under set at 50.

Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. For details, see https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/.

Florida State Seminoles vs. Boston College Eagles: How to watch

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Florida State vs. Boston College: Game notes

» Florida State opened its season with the program’s first international game in Week 0 against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, and returns home to host Boston College in Doak Campbell Stadium on Labor Day night.

» The Seminoles are 59-18 (.766) all-time in home openers and have won their first home game in each of the last two seasons.

» Florida State, the defending ACC champions, topped the 2024 ACC preseason poll voted on by media at ACC Kickoff. FSU’s 16 ACC championships and 10 undefeated ACC seasons since joining the league in 1992 are both tops in the conference in that span.

» The Seminoles have won nine consecutive home games, the 5th-longest active streak in the nation. FSU also ranks 5th in the country with its active streak of seven straight wins in road games.

» Florida State is 23-5 since the start of the 2022 season. The team’s 23 total wins and 82.1 winning percentage in that span are the best in the ACC, with the win total ranking 4th nationally and the winning percentage 6th.

» The Seminoles, who won 10 games in 2022 and 13 games in 2023, are the only team in the ACC and one of just 12 nationally to reach double-digit wins in 2022 and 2023.

» Among the six FBS teams that played Week 0, Florida State posted the highest completion percentage (70.4) and the most 4thdown conversions (2). FSU was the only team in the country to convert a 4th-down attempt in Week 0.

» The Seminoles’ pass defense continued to excel in the season opener, leading the six FBS teams that played in Week 0 by allowing 146 yards through the air. Last season, FSU led the country in opponent completion percentage (48.3), pass breakups (80), passes defended (90) and passes defended per game (6.43).

» Florida State’s offensive line boasts 355 collegiate games played with 215 starts, both the highest totals in the country. The line includes returning first-team All-ACC offensive tackle Darius Washington, all-conference center Maurice Smith and starting tackle Jeremiah Byers from last year’s group that blocked for the ACC’s highest-scoring offense for the second straight year.

» FSU earned two ACC Player of the Week recognitions in Week 0 when the conference had three teams start their season. Shyheim Brown was named the ACC’s Defensive Back of the Week after recording a career-high 13 tackles, including 1.0 for loss. His tackles total was the most for a Florida State defensive back since current Carolina Panther Jammie Robinson made 18 stops at Florida in 2021.

» Kicker Ryan Fitzgerald was named the conference’s Specialist of the Week after scoring seven points, courtesy of two field goals and one PAT. He made a career-long 59-yard field goal that is the longest in a conference game in ACC history and third-longest overall by an ACC kicker. His make from 59 yards was six yards longer than his previous career-long and tied the game at 14-14 on the last play of the first half. Additionally, Fitzgerald connected on a 52-yard field goal earlier in the 2nd quarter for his first career game with two field goals of at least 50 yards.

» Florida State returns 73 players from last year’s ACC championship team, a total that includes nine All-ACC honorees, two All-Americans, two national award semifinalists and the ACC Championship Game MVP.

» FSU returns all 11 on-field coaches from last season, the second time in Mike Norvell’s FSU tenure his coaching staff remained intact across multiple seasons. Eight of Norvell’s 10 assistant coaches have been with the program since his first season in 2020.