With all the runs being scored lately and a fast start by the gang from Boston it looked like there maybe a lot of runs scored. But both pitching staff’s settled in and locked up in a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel that went to 13 innings before the Tigers came away with a long hard fought come from behind 3-2 extra innings win.
The visiting Red Sox got off to a good start getting two quick runs off of Detroit starter and all-star snub Jeremy Bonderman. Coco Crisp led off and went by way of the K, but he was followed by Dustin Pedroia who tripled into the left centerfield gap when Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson missed the ball on a dive. David Ortiz then drove a Bonderman fastball into the rightfield seats for the Sox 2 runs. Manny Ramirez followed with a walk and then J.D. Drew singled to right and the Sox had Bonderman on the ropes early. But the hard throwing righty bore down and got back-to-back whiffs of Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek to end the inning.
Kason Gabbard would retire 8 of the first 9 Tigers in his first go-around allowing only a lead off single to Magglio Ordonez in the second. He would finish the first three frames with three K’s and no walks and just the one hit and looked strong.
Bonderman after the shaky first would settle in and get 5 of the next 6 Sox hitters yielding only a third inning walk to Ortiz that snapped a streak of 6 hitters retired in a row. Bonderman through three had 5 K’s including Crisp twice. He was also aided when Ramirez grounded into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play to erase Big Papi.
Bonderman would start the 4th by getting Drew to pop out, Lowell would reach on a Carlos Guillen error on a routine ground ball to short. Bonderman then became very enthralled with Lowell and threw to first several times before Lowell actually ran and he was gunned down by Ivan Rodriguez. But on the replay it appeared Guillen’s tag was a miss and Lowell was safe. It ended up as part of a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play as Varitek whiffed for his second time on the night.
After Eric Hinske started the fifth with a fly out to center, Bonderman recorded his 7th K getting Alex Cora. Crisp who had struck out his first two times came up hacking and singled to center. It was the Sox first hit since the first inning off of Bonderman. Pedroia was then retired on a fielder’s choice to Brandon Inge at third to end the inning.
Gabbard through the fourth looked totally in control as he had set down 8 straight Tigers. That streak was snapped when Ordonez got on for his second time in the game with a lead off walk in the fifth. To this point he had been the only Tiger to reach base as he singled in the second. Gabbard then issued another free pass this one to Guillen and put runners on first and second with no one out. Rodriguez then hit a little chinker to the third base side of the mound moving the runners up a base as Gabbard threw him out at first. Hinske then made a great catch on a foul out near the tarp on Marcus Thames. Hinske got himself righted and got the ball in quickly and the Sox were able to hold Ordonez at third and keep the Tigers scoreless. But that was only momentarily as Craig Monroe made Gabbard pay for those two walks when he shot the ball over Ramirez’ head in left for a 2 run double to tie the game at 2-2. Inge then flew out to left and Gabbard was able to get out of the inning tied.
Starting the 6th it was now a new game and Bonderman was looking pretty comfy in his surroundings. But Ortiz got a jump on him leading off with his second hit of the game, a double into the rightfield corner. Papi would advance to third when Manny flew out to the bigpart of the ballpark in center. Bonderman would notch his 8th strikeout of the night getting Drew Looking. Lowell would end up stranding Ortiz at third when Bonderman escaped the jam by getting him to foul out to Thames at first.
Boston was still getting runners on but still unable to dent Bonderman since the first. Varitek led off the seventh with a single to left then was erased on a 3-6-1 twin killing when Hinske hit the ball at Thames who stepped on the bag. Varitek then got himself into a pickle as Thames ran his towards second and Guillen ran him back to first where Bonderman, covering the bag, tagged him out. Cora then grounded out Thames to Bonderman to end the inning.
In the 7th, Gabbard finally got Ordonez out when he popped out to Pedroia but he was then chased after a strong 6 1/3 innings when Guillen singled to center. Gabbard gave up 2 runs both earned, 2 walks, 3 hits and had 3 K’s on the night. Terry Francona then replaced Gabbard with Manny Delcarmen. Guillen stole second off of Delcarmen and I-Rod grounded out to short to move him to third. Thames then flew out to Coco and the Tigers left the go ahead run stranded at third.
The Sox threatened in the 8th after Crisp flew out, Pedroia doubled into the rightfield corner, and Julio Lugo came in to pinch run for him. Ortiz was then intentionally walked to face Ramirez who hit a 3-1 bullet to Inge who took it off his shoulder and could only get Ortiz at second. This put runners on the corners for Drew as Jim Leyland stayed with Bonderman. The move paid off as Bonderman hung tough and struck out Drew as the Sox blew a great opportunity to get a run.
Hideki Okajima started the ninth getting Omar Infante, who replaced Polanco in the 8th, to fly to Ramirez. Sheffield then hit a bullet right at Lowell for the second out and then the leagues leading hitter Ordonez walked on a 3-2 pitch. Guillen then hit a ball at Lugo, who was now playing short, and he bobbled it but found it quick enough to go to Cora at second for the force out to send the game into extra innings.
Doug Jones, the Detroit closer who was in his second inning of work had to face the top of the Sox order. Crisp doubled into the left centerfield gap to lead off the 10th. Lugo, hitting for the first time, failed in his first two bunt attempts to move Crisp missing the first pitch and then fouling off the second. Lugo then grounded out to short but Crisp was able to move onto third with one out. Ortiz was then again walked intentionally so Jones could face Ramirez. Leyland then had his infield play for the double play that would end the inning. Ramirez then grounded into that double play to kill another threat. It was Manny’s second GIDP of the night and 14th of the season.
Rodriguez led off the Tiger 10th with a base hit off of Okajima. Thames then scorched a single to left to put runners at first and second with no one out. Monroe then sacrificed the runners to second and third it was his first sacrifice since 2005. With the winning run 90 feet away Inge was intentionally walked to load the bases. This brought up Granderson who has great speed and good power making him a tough double play candidate so Francona pulled the infield in. With a 3-2 count Granderson grounded to Hinske who got the force at the plate for the second out. Varitek’s return throw to first wasn’t in time so the bases were still loaded with two outs for Infante. Then the all-star reliever worked out of the jam getting Infante to fly out to center and leave the bases full of Tigers.
Mike Timlin came on for the bottom of the 11th having to face the heart of the Detroit order. He got Sheffield to ground out to short and Ordonez to ground out to second but a two out walk to Guillen and a single to left by Rodriguez put the winning run on third with two out for Thames. Timlin then walked Thames to load the bases and was living dangerously. Monroe then fouled out to Bailey in front of the Sox dug out and Timlin escaped his own jam.
Cora lead off the 12th with a single to center off of Zach Miner, this brought Leyland out for a conference with the infield. Crisp then sacrificed Cora to second, Lugo came to the plate for the second time on the night and Lugo whiffed looking. Ortiz was then walked for the third time on the night, his fourth walk of the game, so that Miner could face Manny. Ramirez came up 0 for 4 having killed the last two Sox rallies with a fielder’s choice and a double play. Ramirez walked to load the bases for Drew. Leyland then removed Miner for Bobby Seay, to get the lefty on lefty match up with Drew. Kevin Youkilis, who has been sitting out with a sore quad, was sent up to pinch-hit for Drew and he flew out to Ordonez in right to end the threat.
Jonathan Papelbon started the 13th by hitting Sheffield with the first pitch, Ordonez flied to right, Sheffield stole second with Guillen hitting to get into scoring position on a 2-2 count. After running the count full Papelbon sent Guillen packing with a huge strike out. Rodriguez, who had no hits in the first nine innings, got his third hit in extra frames when he hit a ball into the right centerfield gap that Coco almost made an incredible catch on to score Sheffield from second and win the game, 3-2.
Notes and Musings:
A group of Jimmy Fund kids were at the game tonight as part of their annual field trip. A big ol’ tip of the hat to the Tigers who hooked them up with seats in the luxury box area. Nice job guys, that was a classy move.
There’s some media talk about bringing Jon Lester up after the All-Star break. There’s a possibility they may flip Gabbard and Lester. Lester threw a complete game one-hitter last night for Pawtucket, while Gabbard showed tonight that he wants to stay.
There are some fan rumblings in Boston about why Jacoby Ellsbury was sent down to Pawtucket. NESN’s Jerry Remy made the point that with Kevin Youkilis ailing, the outfielders all healthy and with the Sox facing two left handers in Detroit he most likely wouldn’t play. So the move was made to bring up 1B Jeff Bailey.
Coming into tonight’s game the Tigers lead the majors with 503 runs scored.
The Tigers have five all-stars going to San Francisco: Ivan Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, Magglio Ordonez, Justin Verlander and Carlos Guillen. They would have had a sixth in tonight’s starter Jeremy Bonderman but some dude named Hideki Okajima beat him out in the fan voting for the final spot. Tigers fans greeted the “Darkman” with boos for knocking their boy off the roster.
Tigers second baseman Polanco has now gone 119 straight errorless games with 571 chances. The record for a second baseman is 143 games by Luis Castillo. That streak just ended on June 5th.
Crisp has gone 126 games without an error. He has made only one error in a Red Sox uniform.
Bonderman went 17 starts without a loss from September 10, 2006 until June 20, 2007. This is his 16th start of the year the Tigers are 10-5 when he pitches.
Last season the Sox won 2 of 3 games at Comerica Park. They are 19-13 overall in the Tigers new crib.
The Sox have had a double-digit division lead for 8 straight days. They have lead the division for 83 days. Toronto lost today to Cleveland 9-4 and the Angels downed the Yankees, 2-1 in 13 innings. So the lead will stay at least 11 games.
The Sox are 46-14 when scoring three runs or more this year.
All-star Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 20th save the other night. It marks the first back-to-back 20 saves season for a Boston reliever since Derek Lowe did it in 2001-02. He is the 6th Sox reliever to ever have 20 back-to-back save seasons. Pap and Dick Radatz are the only Sox relievers to have 20 save seasons in their first two years in the majors.
Pap has converted 20 of 21 save chances for a 95.2% success rate. He is second to Seattle’s J.J. Putz who is 24 for 24 (100.0%).
Gabbard is unbeaten in his last 6 major league starts, he is 3-0.
Ortiz first inning HR was his first since June 20th in Atlanta he went 54 AB’s. Last year at the All-Star break Papi had 31 HRs and 85 RBI. This year he has 14 HRs and 51 RBI.
Former Sox pitcher David Wells blew a gasket today in the Padres game and was thrown out by umpire Ed Hickox. Boomer had to be restrained by catcher Josh Bard, manager Bud Black and two coaches. Wells then fired the ball off the backstop as he was leaving the field. Can you say “suspended”?
