The Boston Red Sox came into Detroit hoping to win at least 2 of 3 games but instead they were swept out of the Motor City by the Tigers. The Tigers got homeruns from Gary Sheffield, Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen off of Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka enroute to a 6-5 victory in front of a packed house at Comerica Park.
After Nate Robertson set down the Bosox in order in the 1st inning, the Tigers pounced on Dice-K to grab an early lead. In just three pitches, Matsuzaka had gotten two outs as Curtis Granderson and Thames both flew out. The fourth pitch was a fastball left up in the zone that Sheffield planted into the seats for a 1-0 lead. Matsuzaka then walked Sean Casey but got Guillen to ground out ending the inning.
Robertson had some wildness in the 3rd inning. Jeff Bailey led off with a fly out. Robertson proceeded to walk Julio Lugo and Lugo stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Mike Rabelo with Covelli Crisp at the plate. Crisp worked a walk and Robertson’s wildness continued as he walked Dustin Pedroia to load the bases for David Ortiz. Robertson grazed Big Papi with a pitch forcing in Lugo to tie the game at 1. This was the first time the Red Sox had scored in 14 â…” innings. Mike Lowell followed with a sacrifice fly bringing in Crisp to give the Sox a 2-1 lead. With the switch-hitting Jason Varitek at the plate, AL All-Star manager decided to walk him to face the lefty J.D. Drew. The move payed off as Robertson got Drew to ground out ending the inning.
The Tigers struck again in the 3rd inning. After Matsuzaka had gotten Granderson to fly out, Thames absolutely crushed a ball to centerfield for a solo homerun. The tale of the tape had it at 440 feet. The homerun seemed to unnerve the Japanese import as Sheffield roped a double and went to third on wild pitch with Casey at the plate. Casey brought home Sheff with a single making it 3-2 Tigers. Guillen then took a Matsuzaka fastball and put it into the first rows of seats in rightfield, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead. Matsuzaka settled down after this getting Craig Monroe and Rabelo out, ending the 4-run 3rd inning for the Tigers.
Wily Mo Peña led off the 4th inning with a huge blast to left center that was a homerun until Granderson did his Spiderman impression, climbing the wall and taking the homerun away. When he came back down with the ball, it was snowconed in his glove. Bailey flew out to Granderson in a more conventional way for the second out. Lugo followed with a single, one of 3 hits on the day for him but Crisp grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the 4th.
The home squad would push another run across the plate in their half of the 4th inning. After Omar Infante lined out to start the inning, Brandon Inge reached on an infield single. Granderson got Inge to third on a double to deep right. Thames hit a grounder to Lugo at short who went home with the throw to get Inge at the plate. Sheff followed with a ground rule double to left scoring Granderson, making it 6-2 Tigers. Matsuzaka got Casey to strike out swinging ending the inning.
Matsuzaka pitched the 5th for the Sox and that would be the last inning he pitched due to a high pitch count. Matsuzaka threw 90 pitches, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk and just 4 strikeouts.
Robertson had an easy 5th and 6th inning but ran into some trouble in the 7th. Bailey led off with a homerun for his first hit in the big leagues. Lugo followed with a homerun of his own to make it 6-4 Tigers. Robertson regained his composure for a second and got Crisp to groundout. Pedroia followed with a grounder to Guillen at short that he booted for his 16th error of the season. Macay McBride came in for Robertson and uncorked a wild pitch moving Pedroia to second with Big Papi at the plate. McBride ended up walking Big Papi and was given the hook by Leyland. Jose Capellan came in for McBride and got Lowell and Varitek to fly out.
Mike Timlin had taken over for Dice-K in the 6th and pitched two outstanding innings. He faced just the minimum six batters.
Drew led off the 8th inning for the Red Sox with a walk off of Capellan. Wily Mo struck out for the 1st out of the inning bringing Bailey to the plate. But instead, Francona had a different idea as he brought Manny off the bench to pinch-hit. With Manny at the plate, Francona also wanted to put a hit-and-run on to keep themselves out of a double play. Capellan checked Drew at first but threw the ball away allowing Drew to get all the way to third base. Manny ended up striking out on a very questionable third strike call from the home plate umpire. Lugo’s third hit of the game, a double, brought in Drew with the final run for the Red Sox. Zach Miner relieved Capellan and got Coco to strikeout ending Boston’s chances in the inning.
Todd Jones had some trouble with the Sox in the 9th inning. Pedroia led off the inning with a single. Jones settled back down and got Big Papi to strikeout and Lowell to fly out. Varitek followed with a single and Pedroia went to third on an error by Monroe. Jones got Drew to foul out to Inge at third base for the final out of the game. It was Jones’ 22nd save of the season.
The unofficial 1st half of the season is over and I am sure this is not the way the Red Sox wanted it to end. However, they do have the best record in baseball right now. As a matter of fact, the top 5 records in MLB are from the American League. The Sox will need this break as Kevin Youkilis and everyone else could use it. For the 6 All-Stars, it’s off to San Francisco for three days.
The Red Sox return home to play the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night. Tim Wakefield will take the hill for the Sox and be opposed by Jays ace Roy Halladay.
Notes and Musings:
Manny was out of the starting lineup today with what Terry Francona called “intestinal turmoil”. Or what I will call the annual Manny sickness before the All-Star break.
Manny is 3 for 23 with 7 walks as a pinch-hitter.
This will be the third year in a row the Sox have had the lead in the AL East. It is the biggest lead (10 games) of the three years.
The Sox 6 All-Stars will take owner John Henry’s private jet to San Francisco after the game.
Tigers starter Nate Robinson hadn’t won a game since May 19th before today.
The run Jonathan Papelbon gave up was the first run since 8/9/06 he had given up on the road.
Last year before the Sunday before the All-Star break, the Red Sox played a 19 inning game with the White Sox.
Wakefield last relief appearance was on October 12, 2004 vs the Yankees in the ALCS. He didn’t have to be used today.
The Red Sox are 20-7 in day games.
Lugo had his 1st road hit since June 10th in Arizona.
The Red Sox bullpen was able to retrieve Bailey’s first hit ball from the people who caught the homerun. They ended up being the fans of the game on NESN.
The Tigers committed a season high 5 errors.
