In Chapter 1 of 162, Boston suffered a gutwrenching 3-2 loss to the Tigers on Thursday which culminated with an RBI single by Austin Jackson with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
Jackson stung it down the line in left, out of the reach of diving third baseman Nick Punto.
With Andrew Bailey out for several months following right thumb surgery, Aceves was installed as Boston's closer on Wednesday.
A day later, the experiment opened with heartbreak.
The Tigers started the winning rally on a one-out single by Jhonny Peralta, which came against Mark Melancon. Alex Avila followed with a single to left, and on came Aceves.
After being overpowered by Justin Verlander over eight innings, the Red Sox, down 2-0, dug their way out against Tigers closer Jose Valverde in a stirring ninth-inning rally.
Dustin Pedroia started it with a double to right-center. Adrian Gonzalez lined an opposite-field single to left to put runners at the corners with nobody out. David Ortiz got his team within one on a sacrifice fly to center. Darnell McDonald, on as a pinch-runner for Gonzalez, stole second.
That gave Ryan Sweeney the chance to be a hero in his Red Sox debut, and he pummeled a 2-1 pitch off the wall in right for the game-tying triple.
Lester gave the Red Sox everything they hoped. The lefty went seven strong innings, scattering six hits and just one run. He walked three and struck out four, throwing 107 pitches.
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