Tigers - 003 010 012 - 7 14 0 Red Sox - 021 000 000 - 3 7 2Miguel Cabrera's fifth-inning single scored Quintin Berry and snapped a 3-3 tie, as the Tigers avoided a four-game sweep. The Tigers later put the game on ice with three runs off the bullpen, highlighted by a triple from Prince Fielder.
After Ryan Sweeney gunned down Delmon Young trying to score on a fly ball to right in the top of the second, Boston got on the board. Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered (#10) over the Red Sox bullpen, Sweeney singled, and (two outs later) Scott Podsednik doubled to straightaway center.
Unfortunately, the Tigers came right back against Beckett (7-10-4-1-1, 102). Don Kelly singled and Danny Worth doubled. Berry (3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 steals) singled in one run and Brennan Boesch's sac fly tied the game. Fielder's single scored Berry for a 3-2 Detroit lead.
Boston tied the game in its half of the third when Kevin Youkilis doubled with two outs and scored on Salty's single.
Mike Aviles singled to begin the fourth - and that was the last Red Sox hit of the night. The next 19 batters managed only one walk (by Nick Punto, in the seventh).
Detroit padded its lead when Young (3-for-5) homered off Franklin Morales in the eighth. In the ninth, facing Rich Hill, Cabrera singled with two outs and stole second, Fielder tripled, and Young singled.
Podsednik, CFA decision on whether to put Dustin Pedroia on the disabled list is expected by Monday, so the Red Sox will apparently play with a two-man bench until then. Bobby Valentine says Pedroia is day-to-day, but he is not allowed to swing a bat until the swelling around his right thumb subsides.
Nava, LF
Gonzalez, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 3B
Saltalamacchia, C
Sweeney, RF
Aviles, SS
Punto, 2B
Despite having 12 men on the disabled list (and Pedroia could be #13), they have won 14 of their last 19 games. This is the only American League game on the schedule tonight.
W L GB RS RA DIFF Orioles 29 22 --- 230 222 + 8 Rays 29 22 --- 216 206 + 10 Yankees 27 23 1.5 226 212 + 14 Blue Jays 27 24 2.0 249 223 + 26 Red Sox 26 24 2.5 265 243 + 22
8 comments:
What is with their unwillingness to play Middlebrooks anywhere else?
Bizarre run differential in the AL East. The top teams have the lowest differential and the bottom 2 have the greatest.
Guess we really beat up on bad pitching.
This game is free on MLB TV tonight. I'll be watching happily!
Migulel Cabrea is good, real good, i thought we were getting a player similar to him in Adrian Gonzalez, that is just not the case.
Most positive news from this loss:
Nick Punto flied out to center to end the game. Somebody who follows more closely than I do, tell me this - how many fair balls has Punto hit out of the infield this season?
I could look through each one of my scorecards, I suppose.
What is your guess? :>)
15 balls to outfield:
Singles - 4
Doubles - 1
to LF - 4
to CF - 5
to RF - 1
22 balls in infield:
Infield hits - 2
to P - 3
to 1B - 3
to 2B - 1
to SS - 9
to 3B - 4
And:
K - 19
BB - 10
Thanks so much for the detail on Punto, Allan.
And now, after Saturday's game, I want to take back every negative thought I've ever had about Nick Punto! Sure he was sucking at the plate, and two hits in the month of May is pretty terrible, but when you don't get many at bats, it screws things up for almost any hitter.
Again and again, the low-price players on this team are managing to keep the season from being a total disaster.
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