Lester began the top of the second inning with Jhonny Peralta grounding out to third. Omar Infante whiffed and Avila watched strike three go by to end the inning. Sanchez matched Lester in the bottom of the second inning when Nava whiffed on a pitch in the dirt to begin. Stephen "PU" Drew somehow drew a walk but Will Middlebrooks flied out to left. David Ross also walked but Ellsbury grounded out to a charging Jose Iglesias to end the inning with Sanchez already up to 51 pitches.
Iglesias himself led off the top of the third inning with a pop up to right. Jackson poked a base hit to left but was erased on the Hunter double play to end the inning. An unhappy Victorino was rung up on a borderline changeup on the inside corner to begin the bottom of the third. Pedroia lined out to center and Ortiz grounded out to third to end the inning.
Lester cruised in the top of the fourth, starting by getting Cabrera to ground out to second to start. Fielder also grounded out to second on a full count and Martinez lined out to right to end the inning. Sanchez continued to dominate in the bottom of the fourth, beginning by getting Napoli on yet another check swing called third strike. Nava also took a called third strike before Drew whiffed to end the inning. That's 9 strikeouts and no hits allowed for Sanchez.
Lester was almost tagged in the top of the fifth inning when Peralta led off with a double to the centerfield wall. Infante grounded to first but Napoli fired it to second where Drew caught Peralta going back to second for the out. Avila singled to right but Victorino booted the ball, allowing Infante to advance to third. Iglesias grounded to third but Middlebrooks fired home and Infante was out by a mile. Jackson flied out to right to end the inning with the Sox keeping it tied. Middlebrooks grounded out to second on the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth before Ross popped up to second. Ellsbury was rung up on a questionable foul tip into the mitt call by home plate umpire Joe West to end the inning. That's 5 innings, 10 strikeouts and no hits allowed for Sanchez.
The Tigers struck first in the top of the sixth although Hunter grounded out to third to start. Cabrera walked and Fielder was hit to put the pressure on. Martinez beat out a double play ball and Peralta blooped a single to center to score the hobbled Cabrera to give the Tigers the lead. Infante grounded out to third to end the inning but Lester had thrown 102 pitches and the Tigers had a 1-0 lead.
The Sox tried to rally in the bottom of the sixth but Victorino unsuccessfully tried to catch Fielder sleeping at first with a bunt attempt. Pedroia found a way to draw a walk and advance to second on a passed ball but Ortiz whiffed badly. Napoli and Nava drew back to back walks to load the bases but Drew whiffed on a pitch in the dirt to end the inning. Sanchez had struck out 12 and didn't allow a hit through 6 innings.
Lester returned for the top of the seventh inning and got Avila to line out to Drew to begin. Iglesias was hit on his little baby toe and that was it for Lester. He did the best he could, allowing just 1 run through 6 1/3 innings but the offense let him down.
Junichi Tazawa relieved Lester and he got Jackson to ground out to third although Iglesias moved to second. Hunter flied out to the right field warning track to end the inning. Al Albuquerque replaced Sanchez for the bottom of the seventh with Mike Carp pinch hitting for Middlebrooks. Carp hit a broken bat grounder to Iglesias before Jarrod Saltalamacchia pinch hit for Ross only to watch strike three go by. Ellsbury worked to count to 3-1 then took a very questionable strike two call at the knees that had Victorino in the on-deck circle ready to riot. Jacoby whiffed to end the inning as the boo-birds rained down, causing Sox manager John Farrell to ask Joe West for an explanation.
Xander Bogaerts came in to play third with Salty taking over behind the plate as Craig Breslow took the mound for the top of the eighth. Cabrera flied out to right but Fielder walked. Martinez flied out to left and the pain in the ass Peralta doubled down the left field line for a ground rule double amidst "Who's your dealer?" chants from irate adult Sox fans. Sox manager John Farrell went to the mound to ask Breslow if he wanted to walk Infante or pitch to him and Breslow said to walk him to load the bases. Sure enough Infante walked to get to Avila as Ramon Santiago pinch ran for Peralta. The gamble worked as Breslow got Avila to fly out to center to end the inning. Don Kelly took over in left as Jose Veras came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Victorino whiffed on a damn good curve by Veras before Pedroia was rung up by West much to Dustin's chagrin. Tigers manager Jim Leyland wanted lefty Drew Smyly to pitch to Ortiz and Drew got Ortiz to fly out to center to end the inning. The Sox were held hitless through 8 innings but were one swing of the bat away from tying it.
Koji Uehara took over in the top of the ninth and Iglesias golfed a base hit to center to begin. Uehara recovered to whiff Jackson on a high fastball but Hunter doubled down the left field line. Kelly whiffed for a huge out and Drew made a wonderful over the shoulder grab to rob Fielder of a hit to end the inning.
Joaquin Benoit came on to finish the no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth and Napoli left the bat on his shoulder for strike three to begin. Nava woke up the crowd and broke up the no-hitter with a bloop single to center. Quintin Berry pinch ran for Nava but Drew flied out to right. Berry swiped second to put the tying run at second but the 20 year old rookie Bogaerts popped up to short to end the game. The Sox were 1 hit, struck out 17 times and lost 1-0.
Jackass of the Night is David Ortiz. He was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and left 3 men on base. One swing of the bat could have impacted the game but he failed to deliver every single time.
The Good:
Dustin Pedroia walked twice in four plate appearances.
Daniel Nava was 1 for 3 with a walk.
David Ross walked once in two plate appearances.
Quintin Berry stole a base a pinch runner.
One of the rare times the losing pitcher ends up on the good list but Jon Lester was the hard luck loser giving up just the 1 run in 6 1/3 innings. Lester gave up 6 hits and struck out 4.
Junichi Tazawa got out of the 7th inning.
Craig Breslow pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Jacoby Ellsbury was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of three strikeouts.
Shane Victorino was 0 for 4 with an error and a hat trick of three strikeouts.
Will Middlebrooks was 0 for 2.
Mike Carp was 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter.
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was 0 for 1 at the plate.
The Ugly:
Mike Napoli was 0 for 3 with a hat trick of three strikeouts but walked.
Stephen Drew was 0 for 3 but walked.
Final Thoughts:
The Sox are in deep trouble. Not that Sanchez was a pushover, his performance tonight is proof of that, but the Sox needed to win this game with arguably the two best starters in the American League going in Game's 2 and 3. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are looming and the Sox will have to counter with the still injured Clay Buchholz and unpredictable John Lackey. It doesn't look good for the Sox unless they somehow find a way to score some offense against a group of starters that can match their own. The only Detroit weakness is their bullpen but good luck getting to it. Tomorrow night the Sox hope to rebound when Clay Buchholz takes on Max Scherzer at 8 PM in Game 2 at Fenway Park.
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