The Sox wasted no time getting to Tigers starter Juan Berenguer as Jerry Remy walked to start. Dwight Evans clobbered his second home run of the season to put Boston on top two batters into the game. Wade Boggs flied out to center, Jim Rice popped up to first and Mike Easler flied out to center to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-0.
Brown got the ball in the bottom of the first and Lou Whitaker grounded out to second to start. Alan Trammell grounded out to short and Kirk Gibson flied out to right to end the inning.
Tony Armas grounded out to short to start the top of the second and Rich Gedman popped up to third. Reid Nichols got a base hit but Glenn Hoffman struck out to end the inning. Darrell Evans popped up to short to start the bottom of the second and Johnny Grubb popped up to third. Chet Lemon singled but Dave Bergman grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the third as Remy walked to start. Remy was thrown out trying to steal and Evans struck out. Boggs walked and Rice smashed his second home run of the season to increase the lead. Easler grounded back to the mound to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-0.
Brown cruised in the bottom of the third as Howard Johnson popped up to first to start. Dwight Lowry flied out to right and Whitaker grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
The Sox blew a chance to add to the lead in the top of the fourth as Armas struck out to start. Gedman motored around for a triple but Nichols popped up to right. Hoffman popped up to first to end the inning. Brown got in trouble in the bottom of the fourth as Trammell popped up to first to start. Gibson singled but Evans flied out to left. Grubb walked and Lemon whiffed to end the inning.
Nothing happened in the top of the fifth as Remy popped up to short to start. Evans popped up to first and Boggs popped up to left in foul territory to end the inning. Brown got in trouble again as Bergman and Johnson both singled to start the bottom of the fifth. Lowry flied out to right, Whitaker struck out and Trammell grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the sixth as Rice grounded out to short to start. Easler drew a walk but Armas hit one up the elevator shaft. Easler swiped second and Gedman was intentionally walked to get to Nichols. Nichols would have none of it as he got a base hit to score Easler with another run. Hoffman popped up to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-0.
Brown ran out of gas in the bottom of the sixth as Gibson and Evans both singled to start. Grubb flied out to left and Lemon struck out, but Bergman singled home Gibson to chase Brown. Sox manager Ralph Houk decided to pull Brown before it got any worse after 5 2/3 innings of 1 run ball. Bob Stanley got Johnson to pop up to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 5-1.
Doug Bair came in for the top of the seventh and Remy grounded out to third to start. Evans got a base hit but Boggs flied out to center. Rice struck out to end the inning. Stanley cruised in the bottom of the seventh as Lowry struck out to start. Whitaker lined one off of Stanley but Hoffman threw him out at first. Trammell grounded out to second to end the inning.
Easler tried to start a rally with a base hit to start the top of the eighth but Armas and Gedman both struck out to kill that. Nichols grounded into a force to end the inning. The Tigers struck back in the bottom of the eighth as Gibson tripled to start and scored on the Evans grounder to cut the lead. Grubb singled but was forced at second by Lemon. Bergman singled but Johnson struck out to end the inning with the Tigers down 5-2.
Willie Hernandez took over for the top of the ninth and Hoffman singled to start. Remy sacrifice bunted Hoffman to second but Evans struck out. Boggs grounded out to third to end the inning. The Tigers made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Barbaro Garbey pinch hit for Lowry. Garbery singled and Whitaker doubled him home. Whitaker moved to third on the fly out by Trammell and Gibson doubled him home. With the tying run on second, Evans grounded out to short. Stanley struck out Grubb to end the game. It got hairy at the end but the Sox had won it 5-4.
Hero of the Night is Mike Brown. He held the powerful Tigers to just 1 run in 5 2/3 innings to pick up his first win of the season.
The Good:
Jerry Remy walked twice, dropped down a perfect bunt and scored a run.
Dwight Evans was 2 for 5 with a 2 run home run.
Mike Easler was 1 for 3 with a stolen base, walk and a run scored.
Rich Gedman was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Reid Nichols was 2 for 4 with an rbi.
The Bad:
Tony Armas was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:
Wade Boggs was 0 for 4 but walked and scored a run.
Jim Rice was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a 2 run home run.
Glenn Hoffman was just 1 for 4.
Bob Stanley allowed 3 runs in 3 1/3 innings but earned his fourth save of the season.
Final Thoughts:
The Tigers are for real this season but the Sox aided their cause by winning the game. If they're the team the beat the Sox have to match them on both sides of the ball. The Sox are gonna need an elite starter if they hope to catch the Tigers this season. Its only May so the Sox have 3 months to come up with a trade or hope one of their prospects become an ace. Otherwise the Sox have no chance to catch the Tigers if their starters don't step up. Mike Brown was good today and they're going to need more of that going forward. The win improved the Sox to 10-14, 10 games behind the Tigers for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow afternoon the Sox look to take the series when they send Bob Ojeda (1-2) to the mound up against Tigers ace Jack Morris at 3:05 PM Eastern Time at Tiger Stadium.
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