Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 28
After losing to the Boston Red Sox in first two games of the series, the Detroit Tigers were looking to regroup and fight back to avoid another humiliating series sweep. However, the Red Sox were determined to annihilate their opponents in front of their
home crowd and that is exactly what they did in the finale on May 30, 2012.
Red Sox starting pitcher starting pitcher Jon Lester had a decent time on the mound, allowing just four runs in just over six innings. Striking-out seven batters, he created all sorts of problems for the struggling batting line-up.
Relief pitchers Andrew Miller and Alfredo Aceves also showed nerves of steel under pressure as they combined to pitched two shut-out innings to help their side complete a deserving series victory.
Tigers’ starter Drew Smyly gave up eight hits and four runs in six solid innings while striking-out four batters. Octavio Dotel took his second loss of the season after allowing one run in just 0.2 inning of relief.
Relief pitchers Phil Coke and Josh Benoit also struggled to control the flow of runs and the Red Sox went on to record their third straight win against the slumping Tigers.
Tigers’ made a dream start to the contest. Delmon Young grounded into fielder’s choice to second in the first inning to put his side on the board. Slugger Prince Fielder grounded out to third to extend the lead to 3-0.
"Keep him in, let him stay in, have (Kevin) Youkilis go to third (from first), I don't know," Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine said.
"We joke around and say, 'Who's going to play the Little League game and get the six-inning pull?'" said Gonzalez, mostly a first baseman.
The Red Sox bounced back strongly, thanks to David Ortiz and Will Middlebrooks who hit back-to-back home-runs in the fourth inning to help their side comeback from behind to take a 4-2 lead. Kevin Youkilis also made the most of scoring opportunities as he
smacked a solo home-run in the eighth to deny the Tigers any chance of coming back into the contest.
"After we tied it up, we got two real quick outs in that inning then they end up getting that run," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "That's tough."
"We knew the second time around what he had already," Middlebrooks said. "He showed us what he had so the second time around we knew what to expect."
Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland looked extremely disappointed at the end of the series. Despite having some of the finest hitters and pitchers on their big league roster, the Tigers took their third straight loss which damaged their record to 23-27.
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