Justin Verlander’s eight shutouts give Detroit Tigers 3-0 victory over Boston Red Sox – MLB Update
Justin Verlander threw a career-high 132 pitches on Sunday, May 29 to help Detroit Tigers to an illustrious 3-0 victory against the Boston Red Sox at Comerica Park.
The Tigers put an abrupt pause to the five-game winning streak of the Red Sox a day after rain postponed the game.
The Red Sox offence which saw a meteoric rise in last few days seemed at their lowest as Verlander literally rendered every big hitter useless. Verlander pitched into the eighth inning, all of them shut-outs and allowed only four hits. The fact that the
ace pitcher had 132 pitches broke the 15 year old record made by Felipe Lira in 1996.
Jose Valverde, who pitched the ninth inning to save the game, had a performance that neither went unnoticed nor less agonising for the Red Sox. "Valverde is so tough on right-handed hitters, it seemed like a easy decision with David sitting there," Red Sox
manager Terry Francona said. "He worked the count and got a great swing."
David Ortiz who awaited a mistake by Valverde in the ninth inning failed to see his wish materialise as Jose was unhittable. "I don't like pinch hitting too much, but I did just what I do as a DH," Ortiz said. "I went to the cages, took some swings and got
loose."
Detroit kicked off Sunday’s game pretty aggressively when Josh Beckett came in to pitch for the Red Sox. Little did Beckett realise that he would fall victim to early hitting. Brennan Boesch doubled to deep right to score the first run for the Tigers.
Hardly had Beckett pitched the next when he was hit by Miguel Cabrera to double the lead for Detroit. Beckett gave up three hits in the inning that proved costly not only for him but for the team as well.
The game then was effectively a solo show dominated by Verlander who pitched shut-out innings to contain the Red Sox offence. Beckett did his share for Boston, but the earlier damage was too big to recover. Detroit’s offence could not produce any major hit
either but the game remained in their hands up until the last inning.
Don Kelly scored the third run on Scott Atchison’s fastball, giving the irreversible 3-0 lead to the Tigers which Valverde successfully defended, paving the way of victory for his team in a magnificent way.
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