The Sox entered Thursday afternoon's series finale 6-0 against the Tigers this season, eager to continue that streak. But Verlander had other plans, allowing just four hits in eight shutout innings. He walked one Red Sox batter and punched out eight, bringing his AL-leading strikeout total to 194 on the season. Verlander and the Tigers beat the Red Sox in the series finale, 2-0.
Clay Buchholz was strong on the mound for the Red Sox, but not strong enough. Buch kept the scoreless tie going until the fourth inning, when the Tigers rallied with one out and Miguel Cabrera singled on a Ryan Raburn infield single. Raburn later homered to account for the Tigers' second run — he finished with the game's only two RBIs.
The Red Sox lose a game in the AL wild card race, as the Rangers were again victorious over Cleveland, 4-1. The Yankees are in action later with a series opener against Seattle.
Final: Tigers 2, Red Sox 0.
Rodney slams the door. It's a 1-2-3 inning to complete a dominant
performance on the mound — Verlander gets his 13th win in impressive
fashion. Papi goes down swinging, and Lowell and Kotchman each ground
out to complete Fernando Rodney's 24th save.
Middle 9th, 2-0 Tigers: Superb top of the ninth for Fernando
Cabrera, who goes right to work attacking the bottom of the Tigers'
order and ends up striking out the side. Raburn swinging, Laird
looking, Everett swinging, and we're on to the bottom of the ninth. Fernando Rodney
will take the hill to finish this one out — close the book on
Verlander. Ortiz, Lowell and Kotchman are due up in the ninth for
Boston.
End 8th, 2-0 Tigers: Ellsbury leads off the bottom of the eighth
with a double into the gap in right-center, but the Red Sox once again
fail to capitalize. Verlander strikes out Reddick, Martinez pops up to
third, and Bay then strikes out as well. Make it eight K's for
Verlander, who's just been absolutely dominant for the Tigers this
afternoon.
Middle 8th, 2-0 Tigers: Delcarmen pitches a hitless eighth,
keeping things close for the Red Sox with the top of the order coming
up. Verlander is indeed coming back out to pitch the eighth for Detroit
— Ellsbury, Reddick and Martinez are coming up. This will be the Sox'
best chance to get back in this game.
End 7th, 2-0 Tigers: There's an elite group of pitchers in the major leagues with four-plus complete games: Roy Halladay, Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Cliff Lee.
Verlander is now making his push to join that club — here, he needs
just nine pitches to retire the Sox' 7-8-9 hitters in order. Over 100
pitches now, but Verlander is still working efficiently and throwing
strikes. Hard not to stick with him.
Buchholz, however, is done. Manny Delcarmen will pitch the eighth for Boston.
Middle 7th, 2-0 Tigers: Buchholz makes it eight Tigers in a row
retired — then, he snaps that streak with a bang. Ryan Raburn takes
him deep to left for his seventh home run of the year, and Gerald Laird
follows with a deep fly of his own, just in front of the wall. Jason
Bay is there. Then Adam Everett lines a first-pitch single, and
Buchholz starts missing the zone. Buchholz gets out of the seventh, but
he's now at the 100-pitch mark, and it looks like things are starting
to come unraveled.
End 6th, 1-0 Tigers: Here's a storyline that never gets old: Red
Sox get a baserunner, Red Sox fail to capitalize. It's another goose
egg — Jason Bay works a one-out walk to put a runner aboard, but Papi
pops up and Mike Lowell lines one to right field for out number three.
The pitchers' duel continues — and Clay Buchholz is coming back out
for the seventh the keep the dueling going.
Middle 6th, 1-0 Tigers: Buchholz has now retired seven straight
Tigers, including a streak of five consecutive groundouts at one point.
Here he gets Thomas and Cabrera via easy grounders, and Carlos Guillen
ends the inning with a fly to right — deep, but not too deep for Josh
Reddick. Eighty-five pitches, 53 of them strikes, and Buchholz is
through six innings.
End 5th, 1-0 Tigers: Verlander hits Woodward with a pitch for
the second time today, but the Red Sox fail to capitalize after getting
their No. 9 hitter on base. Jacoby Ellsbury and Josh Reddick each fly out to center, and it's five goose eggs in succession for the Red Sox against Justin Verlander.
Middle 5th, 1-0 Tigers: Buchholz makes it a 1-2-3 inning with
three straight groundouts, thanks to a little defensive help from Casey
Kotchman. With two outs and nobody on, Placido Polanco grounds the 3-2
pitch to Woodward and second — his throw is off the mark, but Kotchman
makes a beautiful play to snag the erratic throw and tag Polanco as he
reaches first. Three up, three down.
End 4th, 1-0 Tigers: Through four innings, the Red Sox still
haven't been able to figure out Justin Verlander. Here, it's another
1-2-3 inning for the Tigers' ace, who punches out David Ortiz for his
fifth strikeout and then retires Mike Lowell and Casey Kotchman to end
the inning. Verlander is cruising.
Middle 4th, 1-0 Tigers: The Tigers have broken through against
Buchholz. Miguel Cabrera gets things going with a one-out double,
giving Detroit its first man in scoring position, and a Carlos Guillen
groundout plus an Ordonez walk puts runners at the corners for Ryan
Raburn. Raburn grounds one down the third-base line toward Mike Lowell,
and Lowell makes a great play to stab the hard grounder but can't make
the throw across the diamond. The Tigers are on the board.
End 3rd, 0-0: Verlander ends a streak of five straight Red Sox
retired by hitting Chris Woodward to lead off the third; Victor
Martinez later singles to put two on with two outs. Jason Bay gets a
chance to break this one open, but he goes down swinging and the Sox
strand two. We remain scoreless.
Middle 3rd, 0-0: Make it another hitless inning for the Tigers. Gerald Laird and Adam Everett each pop out to start the inning; Curtis Granderson then works a six-pitch walk, but Placido Polanco strands
him by lining one to Josh Reddick in right. No runs on one hit for the
Tigers through three; Buchholz has kept the pitch count down at 43.
End 2nd, 0-0: Verlander's settled down nicely. He needs just
seven pitches to make it a 1-2-3 second — strikeout, groundout and
botched bunt attempt for Lowell, Kotchman and Nick Green respectively. So far, we've got the makings of a pitchers' duel on our hands.
Middle 2nd, 0-0: Another solid inning for Buchholz, who's now struck out three Tigers in two innings. Magglio Ordonez
records Detroit's first hit of the ballgame, a single to center field
with two outs, but Buch gets Ryan Rayburn to ground out to Woodward at
second base. No harm done — on to the bottom of the second.
End 1st, 0-0: Josh Reddick makes the rare start count, hacking
at the 0-1 pitch from Verlander and driving it to right field for a
ground-rule double in his first at-bat. Victor Martinez then lines one
to left for a single, but Thomas gets it back in quickly and holds
Reddick at third. Verlander then fights his way out of trouble,
striking out Jason Bay and David Ortiz in succession to keep the Red Sox off the board.
In other news: Props to Martinez, who took off with the pitch as Bay went down swinging, on just the second stolen base of his career. The first game on July 24, 2003. Now there's a drought.
Middle 1st, 0-0: Very impressive start for the young gun
Buchholz, who throws nine pitches (seven strikes) and sets the top of
the Tigers' lineup down in order. Down go Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Clete Thomas.
1:05 p.m.: For the Red Sox, Josh Reddick gets a start for the first time this week — Reddick will play right field and bat second, giving J.D. Drew the afternoon off. The infield shuffle puts Mike Lowell at third base, Casey Kotchman at first and Victor Martinez catching Buchholz. Jason Varitek gets the day off after a long night behind the plate Wednesday.
Chris Woodward makes his first career start in a Red Sox uniform, displacing Dustin Pedroia.
Jim Leyland has Miguel Cabrera back in the lineup after nursing a bruised hand the past couple days; at the bottom of the order, Ryan Raburn is back at third base and Gerald Laird gets the start to catch the flame-throwing Verlander.
10:05 p.m.: The Red Sox have had their way with the Tigers so far this week, but finishing off the sweep won't be easy.
In their series finale at Fenway, the Sox will take on Justin Verlander, the 26-year-old ace of the Tigers staff who leads the American League with 186 strikeouts on the season. Verlander does have an Achilles heel in Boston, however, carrying a 1-2 record and 5.49 career ERA against the Red Sox into today's finale.
In their effort to finish off the four-game sweep, the Red Sox counter with a hard-throwing youngster of their own. Clay Buchholz takes the mound for Boston, fresh off a solid start in a losing effort at Yankee Stadium. He's hoping to put in another good outing to get his major league ERA back under five.
And also to help the Sox finish off this sweep. They sure do need it.
