May 6, 2021

Red Sox Struggling With Tigers, Who Started Series With .195 Batting Average And A Club-Record 18 Consecutive Games With 9 Or Fewer Hits (They Have 11 Hits In Each Of First Two Games)

The Tigers came into Fenway Park on Tuesday with a team batting average of .195. That was the worst average of any MLB team. Detroit also had the worst on-base (.255) and slugging percentages (.338). And they had the worst record (8-21).

In their previous 17 games before visiting Boston, the Tigers had gone 2-15 and hit .173/.220/.279, scoring only 1.8 runs per game. The Yankees had just swept them, shutting them out in two of the three games.

Somehow, the Red Sox have had their hands full the last two nights.

Tuesday: The Red Sox led 8-2 in the first game of the series, but allowed the Tigers to close that gap to 10-7 before winning 11-7. Detroit had 11 hits, snapping a franchise-record of 18 games with single-digit hits. It was only their fifth game (out of 30) with 10+ hits.

Wednesday: Detroit led 3-1 (before Boston tied the game) and scored three runs in the top of the tenth and held on to win 6-5. It was only their third win in the last three weeks (since April 14). The Tigers knocked out 11 hits, giving them a .276 average for these two games. Michael Fulmer became the first pitcher in Tigers history to start one day (Tuesday) and earn the save the next day (Wednesday).

The Tigers have had more than 11 hits in a game only twice this year (April 12-13). . . . Detroit's last extra-inning win in Boston: May 2, 2000.

Jeimer Candelario is the first Tigers batter with 3 hits, 3 runs, and 3 RBI at Fenway Park since Travis Fryman (June 29, 1992). His tenth-inning home run was the Tigers' first 3- or 4-run homer in extra innings at Fenway Park since Vic Mertz (off Mel Parnell on June 11, 1950). 

Red Sox With 10+ Home Runs & 10+ Doubles Through Team's First 31 Games

Ted Williams  - 1955 (13 home runs, 11 doubles)
Ted Williams  - 1957 (10 home runs, 10 doubles)
Mookie Betts  - 2018 (12 home runs, 12 doubles)
J.D. Martinez - 2021 (10 home runs, 10 doubles)

2 comments:

PK said...

Just listening to the radio broadcast, it sounds like the Tigers got a lot of hits on weak contact which could be luck or maybe a sign of bad defense. I suspect both.

allan said...

Red Sox rallied and won 12-9 on Thursday, even though the Tigers had season-highs in runs and hits.