Verlander stops RedSox, losing streak
posted in 2007 season, Boston Red Sox |
Tigers 7, Red Sox 2
You ask your ace to stop a slide, to eat up innings, to give you a shot to win every time he takes the mound. Justin Verlander, whether or not he’s atop the pitching staff, most certainly comes across as an ace by those requirements.
After giving up a run in the first inning, Verlander pitched all the way to the eighth inning and allowed just one more. That, a) gave the Tigers a nice cushion because they were able to score quite a few runs off Tim Wakefield, and b) allowed everyone in the bullpen to catch their breath after two awful showings. Fernando Rodney had a minor adventure in the ninth inning, but otherwise did fine and the Tigers won their third game in five on this road trip.
Usually I’d just hotkey the Polanco-Maggs paragraph here. But Polanco went hitless. Maggs, however, did not. He homered over the Green Monster for 3 runs the same inning Brandon Inge homered to deep right for another. After some recent stumbles, Pudge went 3-for-4, which was nice, while Curtis Granderson had another two-hit day. Oh, did I mention Wakefield had the lowest ERA in the AL entering this game?
ESPN again looks at the pitching matchup and groans at its luck. Julian Tavarez and Mike Maroth combine for an ERA of 11 for the Wednesday night matchup. But there’s plenty of stars on both teams, so the worldwide leader should be okay. I just hope they realize there’s guys on the team not named Gary Sheffield.
Sphere It
