It was only a matter of time. A near-no-hit performance by Anibal Sanchez# and the Detroit Tigers in Game One certainly wasn’t going to leave the Boston Red Sox rattled for Game 2… or maybe it would. Had Max Scherzer not reached 108 pitches in seven innings of no-hit ball, you better believe Jim Leyland was going to let his 2013 ace potentially finish out his 13 strikeout performance. However, Leyland is not a crazy person, sort of. Rather than let the best arms of his bullpen waste their strength against a clearly deflated Red Sox lineup, Leyland decided to hand over an easy victory by putting in the cavalcade of circus clowns who got shelled during the their final meeting of the regular season: Al Alburquerque and Rick Porcello.
It also didn’t hurt that Leyland opted to put in his “best” relief pitcher, his closer Joaquin Benoit with the bases juiced and one of the most dominant left-handed batter in postseason history, David Ortiz, looking for a first pitch fastball. For the benefit of Porcello; no, he hasn’t a part of one of the most improbable late-inning rallies in postseason history; rather, he was the guy responsible for allowing the game-winning run, Jonny Gomes, cross the plate. Even though the 6-5 victory for the Red Sox wasn’t as dominant as the 20-4 drubbing they gave the Tigers on September 4th, the end result is all that really matters; the series is tied at one game apiece.
The Tigers clearly still have the momentum of the series despite what happened from the eighth inning on in Game Two. In 13 innings of work the Tigers’ starting pitching staff has allowed only two hits, eight walks, one run and has struck out 25 batters. Now the series is headed to Detroit with Justin Verlander taking the mound in Game Three. For those who may have missed the American league Division Series, Verlander has been pitching near-perfect baseball this postseason. In the two games he pitched against the Oakland Athletics he went 15 innings, allowed only six hits and two walks and didn’t allow a single run while striking out 21.
Verlander certainly didn’t play his best baseball this season, and oddly enough one of his worst performances on the year came in the only game in which he pitched against the Red Sox on June 23rd when he allowed four earned runs off of seven hits and four walks in five innings of work. That game also happened to come at Comerica Park. Verlander has decent enough career numbers against the Red Sox (3-4 with a 3.63 ERA); however, after what has happened so far in this series, any number of crazy things can happen. The important thing for the Tigers is that Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Alex Avila continue their power surge and that the rest of the bats figure out how to pile on as many runs as possible. There really is no specific number, just more.
Contrary to popular belief, John Lackey is no stranger to a good postseason challenge. How else do you think he got his 2002 World Series ring with the Los Angeles Angels… as a rookie. The unfortunate thing for Lackey and Red Sox Nation in 2013 is that he is 0-1 with a 3.14 ERA in two starts against the Tigers. His outings weren’t as bad as it seems as the Red Sox failed to give him enough run support to keep him going. Now is not exactly the right time for the Red Sox to repeat that. Even with the Game Two win the Sox are batting .136 as a team with almost all of it coming in the last two innings of that game. Dustin Pedroia and Daniel Nava are the only two batting over .250 with Pedroia notching the first RBI for the Sox in the ALCS. Pedroia, Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury were the key factors in taking Verlander down earlier in the year and will surely need to come up big along with Mike Napoli down the stretch.
In the end, it’s hard to deny that the Tigers have the Red Sox overpowered going into this game. On all side of the ball they dominate, but the key factor in all of this is going to be whether or not the Sox can dismantle Verlander. So far the starting core for the Tigers has been nothing short of amazing. Battle Verlander and get him pulled early and the Red Sox will have their best shot at a Game 3 steal.