The Detroit Tigers lost 1-0 on Tuesday to fall down 2-1 in the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox and now the team has home field advantage back after the Tigers were able to steal a game at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox played a great game on Tuesday night and the team got a great pitching performance from John Lackey and it was one pitch that changed things, as Mike Napoli scored the only run of the game on a home run off Justin Verlander, who had not given up a run since back in the regular season. Lackey matched the former Cy Young winner toe to toe as the game went on and now the Red Sox will pitch Jake Peavy against Doug Fister in Game 5 of the series on Wednesday.
The biggest moment of the game for the Tigers came in the eighth inning after the home run for Napoli in the seventh. After Verlander gave that up, the team got out of the inning and then had a chance when they got runners on. The team started off the inning against Boston reliever Craig Breslow and after Jose Iglesias was stuck out looking for the first out, Boston's Junichi Tazawa came into the game after Breslow walked Austin Jackson.
Then Torii Hunter came into the game and put a single into right field and that was enough to get Jackson to third base. Now the Tigers had a true opportunity to get some runs across and they had their two best batters coming up in the lineup. The team obviously wants its best players at bat with the game on the line, but on Tuesday it did not work out as planned. Tazawa was very solid and he matched up with Cabrera, striking him out.
Tazawa got Cabrera swinging for the K and on top of that, he had him swinging on all three strikes, something that does not happen too often. Cabrera left the runners on the corners in the eighth for Fielder and he was next up for Koji Uehara to face. Koji Uehara came into the game and he is in the middle of an amazing season for the Red Sox and he showed exactly why
Fiedler ended up striking out swinging as well and after a foul ball, he had two more strikes swinging on pitches and then the rally was done. Uehara put the two best hitters in the lineup down when the game mattered the most and then he finished it off to get the victory for the red Sox. The Napoli home run ended up being the only run of the game and John Farrell made a great decision by letting Tazawa face Cabrera before bringing in his closer for the four out save. According to Sweet Spot on ESPN.com, Tazawa throws harder than Uehara and that is one reason why Farrell wanted him out there and clearly it worked.
The two best hitters so far for the Tigers this postseason have been Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta, as both are hitting over .400 for the playoffs in 2013. Martinez is hitting .419 with four doubles, 13 hits and seven runs with three RBIs and he has been clutch for the Tigers. Peralta has been hitting well and has had some controversy surrounding him due to his suspension, but he is hitting .417 over 24 at bats and he has 10 hits and six RBIs so far in the playoffs. The Tigers are down 2-1 with Game 5 on Wednesday.