Breaking news out of Detroit: Two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal is scheduled to undergo elbow surgery to remove loose particles. Thus, he will not be on the mound tonight when the Tigers (18-17) open their three-game series against the struggling Boston Red Sox (13-21). Tyler Holton faces Payton Tolle in the opener.
Detroit enters this three‑game series playing dominant baseball at home, where they’ve posted a 12–3 record. Their offense opened the season meekly but has been steady, hitting .262 over their last 10 games while outscoring opponents by six runs. A couple of the key contributors are youngsters Kevin McGonigle (.315) and Riley Greene (12-for-37 with three home runs in his last 10). The Tigers have won 13 of 18 games when scoring five or more runs…and they may well need plenty of them without Skubal on the mound for the foreseeable future.
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Boston arrives in Detroit looking to rebound after dropping a weekend series to Houston. The Red Sox sit at 7–11 on the road, with their offense struggling to find consistency. Although they scored but seven runs in the three games against the Astros, they Sox have shown flashes—hitting .255 over their last 10 games—and players like Wilyer Abreu (.298, 4 HR) and Willson Contreras (12-for-38, 3 HR in his last 10) have been bright spots.
Lets dive into tonight’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch: Red Sox vs. Tigers
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Date: Monday, May 4, 2026
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Network/Streaming: MLB.TV, NESN, Tigers.TV
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The Latest Odds: Red Sox vs. Tigers
The latest odds as of Monday courtesy of DraftKings:
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Spread: Red Sox -1.5 (+143), Tigers +1.5 (-173)
Probable Starting Pitchers: Red Sox vs. Tigers
Pitching matchup for May 4:
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Red Sox: Payton Tolle
Season Totals: 10.2 IP, 0-1, 3.38 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 15K, 5 BB -
Tigers: Tyler Holton
Season Totals: 13.2 IP, 0-1, 5.27 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, 10K, 8 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not! Red Sox vs. Tigers
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Jarren Duran hit safely in each of the 3 games against Houston (4-13)
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
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Top Betting Trends & Insights: Red Sox vs. Tigers
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The Tigers are 12-3 at home this season
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The Red Sox are 7-11 on the road this season
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The Tigers are 18-17 on the Run Line this season
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The Red Sox are 11-23 on the Run Line this season
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The OVER has cashed 16 times in Boston games this season (16-17-1)
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The OVER has cashed 16 times in Tigers’ games this season (16-17-2)
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions: Red Sox vs. Tigers
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
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Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s game between the Red Sox and the Tigers:
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Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
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Spread: Rotoworld Bet is staying away from a play on the Run Line
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Total: Rotoworld Bet is recommending a play on the Game Total OVER 8 runs
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
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Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
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Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
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Trysta Krick (@Trysta_Krick)
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