One things for certain, the Tigers won’t lose 162 games this season as a bad night from the Red Sox pitching staff did them in in a 7-2 loss in front of packed house at the Fens. It was the 390th straight sellout.
The entire pitching staff was brutal tonight. A combined 8 walks between them all. Four of them were by tonight’s starter Jon Lester, 2 by David Aardsman, and one each by Bryan Corey and Javier Lopez. The only Sox pitcher not to issue a walk was Julian Tavarez.
The Red Sox lost Mike Lowell to a sprained thumb that he suffered when making a diving grab. X-rays were negative and Lowell is listed as day-to-day. Sean Casey replaced him in the lineup and went 2-for-4. Manny Ramirez and Julio Lugo also had 2 hits.
David Ortiz continues to struggle at the plate as he was 0-for-4. He’s now batting .091 on the season.
The Sox got on the Green Monster scoreboard first in the 2nd inning when Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman had some control issues. He started the inning with a strikeout of Manny followed by a Casey single. J.D. Drew worked a walk to put runners on first and second. Jason Varitek then reached on a Placido Polanco error to load up the bases for Jacoby Ellsbury. It was the second error in as many days for Polanco. Ellsbury worked a walk to force in a run. Lugo then knocked in another run with a single to put the Sox up 2-0. Bonderman escaped any further damage by getting Dustin Pedroia to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
Lester was good during the first three innings of the game. He allowed only 1 hit and issued two walks. He threw 43 pitches in the those 3 frames.
He started out the top of the 4th with a 5-pitch walk to Miguel Cabrera. He then got into a 9-pitch battle with Carlos Guillen that ended with a walk. Edgar Renteria cleared the bases with a double to tie the game at 2. Marcus Thames gave the Tigers a 4-2 lead as he crushed one into the Green Monster seats. Lester got the final two outs of the inning on ground outs to Lugo at short.
The local nine had a chance to score in the bottom of the 4th. Varitek doubled to start the inning and Ellsbury worked a walk. The Tigers almost had a triple play when Lugo grounded to Cabrera who stepped on third and threw to second for two outs. The relay throw was a step to late to get Lugo at first. The inning ended when Lugo was thrown out at second trying to steal.
The Tigers added two runs in the 8th off of Corey. Guillen led off with a walk and Renteria singled him over to second (funny how Renteria couldn’t hit here when he played for the Sox). Clete Thomas pinch-hit for Thames and sacrificed over the runners. Brandon Inge brought them in with a single giving the Tigers a 6-2 lead and the single chased Corey from the game. Yo-Yo came in and gave up a single to Ivan Rodriguez. The hit was Pudge’s 2,500th in his career making him the 87th player in MLB history to do it. He then plunked Polanco but got Gary Sheffield to hit into a double play.
Javier Lopez worked the 9th and allowed a home run to Guillen giving the Tigers the final margin.
The Red Sox loaded up the bases in the 9th inning off of Tigers closer Todd Jones but Youk popped out to end the game.
Tim Wakefield goes for the Red Sox tomorrow night and will be opposed by Nate Robertson. Game time is 7:05 PM.
Notes and musings:
Coming into tonight’s game, the Red Sox were the only defeated team in the United States with a 3-0 record. Three of their losses came in Toronto and one in Japan.
Jonathan Papelbon has struck out the last six batters he has faced.
J.D. Drew has a 10-game hitting streak dating back to last season, during which he is batting .432 with three home runs.
Kevin Youkilis presented Dustin Pedroia with his Players Choice Award as the 2007 American League Outstanding Rookie prior to tonight’s game.
It was Dominican Heritage Night at Fenway Park.
Tuesday’s shutout was the Red Sox’ 2nd of the season, matching St. Louis for the most in the majors.
Mike Timlin should be activated by the Red Sox tomorrow as he looked good in his rehab appearance. He threw 10 pitches for 7 strikes and recorded all 3 outs on ground balls.
Don’t forget, tomorrow night’s game will be on NESN Plus. Click here to find the NESN Plus channel on your cable or satellite provider. The pre-game show will still air on NESN but start @ 5:30 PM.
In basketball missed free throws are a killer, in baseball it’s the walk, especially a lead off walk. I hope Lester isnt getting into that habit he has had of nibbling. His stuff is too good for that he just needs to attack the zone, hit his spots.
sure he’ll give up runs but he’ll also get more outs by being aggressive with first pitch strikes. Chances are when the staff walks 8 guys there weren’t alot of first pitch strikes.
Lester had 13 first pitch strikes to 25 batters.
Aardsma had 4 first pitch strikes to 7 batters
Corey had 2 first pitch strikes to 7 batters
Lopez had 3 first pitch strikes to 6 batters.
That’s just under 50% of first pitch strikes by the staff last night. That’s not a number to be proud of.
See the old catcher called that one.