The usually tough lefty Justin Verlander was surprisingly hittable this afternoon by the notoriously poor lefty hitting Red Sox. Dustin Pedroia worked a 2 out walk in the top of the 1st but nothing happened. As usual this series, the Tigers struck first in the bottom of the inning. The REAL Felix Doubront showed up today, walking the first 2 batters before allowing a ground rule double to Miguel Cabrera, scoring Austin Jackson and advancing Torii Hunter to third. Prince Fielder scored Hunter with a groundout and Doubront retired Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta to end the inning.
The Sox showed some balls in the top of the second. Mike Napoli singled to lead off, PU Drew followed a Jonny Gomes fly out by walking. Ryan Lavarnway (now the backup catcher with Ross gone with a concussion) singled in Napoli. Jose Iglesias took one for the team to load the bases, a big hit would have been nice but the team had to settle for a Jacoby Ellsbury sac fly that scored Drew to tie the game. Shane Victorino flied out but 2 runs sure weren't going to be enough. Omar Infante singled to lead off the bottom of the second. Avisail Garcia flied out and Lavarnway showed off his arm by nailing Infante at second trying to steal. All Doubront needed was one more out but he wouldn't get it as Brayan Pena singled and Austin Jackson doubled. Lavarnway then gave the run he got back to the Tigers when he allowed a passed ball that scored Pena to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Hunter struck out to end the inning
The Sox struck again in the top of the third. Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back to back singles and Napoli grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Pedroia. Gomes and Drew struck out but they were getting hits off Verlander, something not many can do. This time Doubront didn't cough up a run as he retired the side in order in the bottom of the 3rd.
The hits kept on coming in the top of the 4th. Lavarnway walked and 2 batters later Ellsbury doubled him to third. Once again what the Sox needed was a hit but instead settled for an rbi ground-out by Victorino. Pedroia lined out but the Sox led 4-3. It should have been 5 or 6 to 3, which did come back to haunt them later. Infante drew a 1 out walk in the bottom of the 4th and was safe at second on a blunder by PU Drew. Bryan Holoday flied out but Jackson walked to load the bases. Hunter popped up to end the inning but Felix' pitch count was rising.
Verlander allowed another hit when Ortiz singled to lead off the top of the 5th but Napoli and Gomes failed to reach. Drew made up for his error by lashing a single but Lavarnway struck out looking to end the potential threat. Verlander had thrown 112 pitches and it was just the 5th inning. Doubront pitched a clean bottom of the 5th but he too was at 104 pitches. It looked like it was going to be another battle of the bullpens.
Drew Smyly came to the rescue of the Tigers in the top of the 6th. Iglesias, Ellsbury and Victorino all grounded out in short order. Junichi Tazawa relieved Doubront for the bottom of the 6th. Peralta worked a lead-off walk but Taz retired the next 3 batters to keep the lead 4-3. The Sox blew their chance to break the game open in the top of the 7th. Pedroia and Ortiz hit back to back singles and a Mike Napoli flied out moved Pedroia to third. The Sox had been getting ground outs and sac fly's all day and just needed another, instead Gomes popped up. Drew popped up as well but Gomes was now 0 for 3 on the day with a huge out right there. The struggling Andrew Bailey came in for the bottom of the 7th and naturally allowed a leadoff single to Jackson. Hunter hit a shot that was snared by Pedroia and Cabrera singled as well. 3 straight shots was enough to convince Farrell that Bailey didn't have it, sending in former Tigers propsect Andrew Miller to close out the inning. Andrew instead allowed a single to Fielder that loaded the bases but came back to strike out Martinez. All he needed to do was get Peralta but instead he plunked him, scoring Jackson from third to tie the game. Infante grounded out but the game was tied. 2 straight games the bullpen has ruined a potential Doubront win.
Drew Smyly returned for the top of the 8th and Ellsbury chased him with a 2 out single. Joaquin Benoit replaced Smyly as the slumping Daniel Nava pinch hit for Victorino. Ellsbury stole his 32nd base of the year but Nava struck out to end the inning. The play of the game came right off the bat in the bottom of the 8th. With Nava now in right, Garcia lofted a ball that Nava apparently caught then dropped while transferring to throw back into the infield. Instead, second base umpire Mike Dimuro ruled an error on Daniel and Garcia safe at first. Sox manager John Farrell was steaming mad as the replays showed he clearly caught it then dropped it trying to throw it back. After Dimuro refused to budge, Farrell blew his top which caused him to get the HEAVEEEEE-HO by Dimuro.
As if they didn't have one bad call, the next call was blown too. Holoday dropped down a bunt and Miller threw it a little wide to first which apparently pulled Napoli off the bag according to 1st base umpire Alfonso Marquez. Back to back blown errors put runners on first and third with nobody out. Miller lost his composure and walked Jackson. Acting manager Juan Nieves pulled Miller for rookie Alex Wilson. Wilson got Hunter on a fly ball but it was deep enough for Garcia to score the go-ahead run. Wilson was ordered to intentionally walk Cabrera and Nieves came out to replace him with lefty Craig Breslow. The lefty-lefty matchup failed as Fielder broke a 1 for 16 slump by singling in Holoday and Jackson to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead. Breslow got out of the jam by getting Martinez to bang into a double play but 3 un-earned runs gave the Tigers the game.
On to the top of the 9th where the Sox tried to fight back. Pedroia singled and took second on defensive indifference but Ortiz struck out. Napoli flied out but Gomes made up for his day long struggles by doubling in Pedroia to bring the tying run to the plate. PU Drew then hit a rocket down the right field line but was snared on a great play by Hunter to end the game. If that ball got by Hunter, that was a sure triple. As it was, the Tigers won the series and the game 7 to 5.
THE GOOD:
There was some good mixed in with all this bawfulness. Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4 with an rbi and a stolen base. His batting average is back up to .289 so he appears to be back in 2009 form. Dustin Pedroia broke out of his slump by going 3 for 4 with a walk and 2 runs scored. David Ortiz was 3 for 5 himself and Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Honorable mention goes to John Farrell who stood up for his team by allowing himself to be ejected for a blown call.
THE BAD:
Jackass of the Night is easy, Andrew Miller step right up.
Miller's bad throw and subsequent hit (plus Nava's error) and walk all made up the 3 runs he allowed to lose the game. Ironically the one out he got meant he came out of the game with a LOWERED ERA as none of the 3 runs were earned, still he drops to 0-2 on the season with a respectable 2.93 ERA. Daniel Nava's error may have been a bad call but striking out with Ellsbury standing on second was a huge out. Alex Wilson had the impossible situation of coming into a bases loaded, nobody out jam but only got 1 of the 2 batters he faced, and even the guy he got scored on the sac fly.
THE UGLY:
Everyone else. Shane Victorino ended up going 0 for 4 but one of the outs was an rbi groundout. Mike Napoli was just 1 for 5 but the one hit he got drove in a run and scored a run later in the inning. Jonny Gomes was 0 for 4 but his 9th inning rbi double kept the Sox alive. PU Drew was 1 for 4 with a walk and run scored but his second error of the season cost the Sox a run and he made the last out of the game representing the tying run. Felix Doubront threw 5 innings of 3 run (2 earned) ball. He walked 4 and allowed 4 hits but left with the lead. Craig Breslow allowed the 2 run single by Fielder that put the game away but got an inning ending double play to prevent any further damage.
Final Thoughts:
That was bawful all around. They fielded poorly, couldn't get the knockout punch and the bullpen suddenly can't get the crucial outs. Granted, the 8th inning rally began on 2 bonehead calls by the umpires but a punch out or two would have been nice. Losing 3 out of 4 to the Tigers hurts big time and the pitching staff got knocked around big time. If the Sox were to face the Tigers in the post-season, they better pray to magus Lester has his head on straight and Buchholz is healthy. What's more damaging is Franklin Morales appears to be headed for the DL meaning the walking wounded list is growing by the day. Luckily the Sox get Clayton "Vigo" Mortensen back wednesday hopefully. The all-star break can't come fast enough. The loss drops the Sox to 45-33 but amazingly they didn't lose any ground as the Toronto Blue Jays pounded the Dirty Birds 13-5 and Jeremy Hellickson stoned the Yankees 3-1, keeping the Sox division lead at 2 1/2 games. Tomorrow is an off-day and we'll take a look at Boston's Low-A ball team, the Greenville Drive.
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