It figures that on a day when the Red Sox made Justin Verlander look ordinary, they still couldn't come out on top as they lost 7-5 to the Tigers at Comerica Park. Detroit (42-32 overall, 26-13 home) won the series 3-1 as Boston (45-33 overall, 22-18 away) limps home for a nine-game homestand.
After the best outing of his career, Felix Doubront had his typical performance: five innings, three runs (two earned), four hits, two strikeouts and four walks on 104 pitches.
Not sure what's up with Verlander but he's not himself. He went five innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
Boston was going to blow the game anyway since it was tied 4-4 in the eighth with Andrew Miller (0-2) on the mound but they got no favors from four blind umpires who ruled that Daniel Nava's catch wasn't actually a catch. It was enough to get John Farrell ejected and from there, Detroit tacked on three more runs with Torii Hunter's sacrifice fly and Prince Fielder's (2 hits, 3 RBIs) two-run single.
The Red Sox tried to rally in the ninth as Jonny Gomes had an RBI double but new Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit (2-0) was able to escape thanks to Hunter's diving catch on Stephen Drew's liner to end it.
Miguel Cabrera (2 hits, walk) had a ground-rule RBI double in the first and Fielder drove in another run with a ground out in the first for a 2-0 Tigers lead.
Boston tied it with two runs in the second on Ryan Lavarnway's RBI single and Jacoby Ellsbury's (2 hits, double, stolen base) sacrifice fly. Detroit went back ahead on Lavarnway's passed ball in the home half of the second.
Mike Napoli's ground out in the third and Shane Victorino's ground out in the fourth put Boston up a run (4-3). Things started to unravel in the seventh as Miller hit Jhonny Peralta with the bases loaded to tie it at four.
Dustin Pedroia was 3 for 5 with two runs and a walk while David Ortiz was 3 for 5. Austin Jackson reached base five times going 2 for 2 with three runs, three walks and a double.
Boston gets a day off tomorrow then they will enjoy a nine-game homestand until July 4: two games vs. Colorado (39-38, 2nd in NL West), four vs. Toronto (38-36, 4th in AL East) and three vs. San Diego (38-38, 4th in NL West). It should be a sneaky challenge since all three teams are .500 or better with the Rockies and Padres representing two of the biggest surprises in MLB while the Blue Jays have currently won 11 games in a row.
Ryan Dempster (4-8) faces Juan Nicasio (4-3) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN) and John Lackey (4-5) opposes Roy Oswalt (0-1) on Tuesday afternoon (4:05, NESN). It's a 2007 World Series rematch with very few of the same guys left on the respective teams!
UPDATE 4/25: A flurry of moves for the Red Sox today as infielder Brandon Snyder was called up from Pawtucket, Will Middlebrooks went to the PawSox and David Ross was moved to the 60-day DL.
Franklin Morales is going back to the DL and Pedro Beato is being recalled from the PawSox.
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