Ortiz HR Lifts Sox in Game 1; Verlander Gem Gets Tigers Split in Game 2

By Matt Bertone in Featured, Red Sox, Top Story ⋅ May 30, 2011 at 2:33am ⋅ Post a comment

Justin Verlander saved the day for Detroit pitching 7 and 2-3 shutout innings to earn a split with the Red Sox in the night game of Sunday's doubleheader.

The Red Sox looked to extend their winning streak of five games on Sunday afternoon as they began the day-night doubleheader at 1 p.m. in Detriot. The Sox sent Clay Buchholz to the mound in Game 1 and Josh Beckett in for Game 2. Boston did in fact get the win in the first game, beating the Detiot Tigers 4-3, but failed to close out with a win at night as they lost 3-0 in the nightcap.

Game 1 (Red Sox 4, Tigers 3)

Both of the starting pitchers for each team (Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox, and Andy Oliver for the Tigers) pitched six innings, allowed three runs, and ended up with no decisions.

The Red Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after three innings behind solo home runs from Mike Cameron and Dustin Pedroia, but couldn’t manage to secure that lead for long. In the fourth inning Andy Dirks started the comeback with a solo home run, and then in the sixth, the Tigers tied it up at 3 all when Brennan Boesch homered and Miguel Cabrera scored on a Jhonny Peralta single.

The game came to a close with the Red Sox winning 4-3 after a pinch hit home run in the top of the ninth inning by David Ortiz.

Game 1 Notes:

Matt Albers picked up the win with two shutout innings of relief.
Jonathan Papelbon got his 10th save.

Game 2 (Tigers 3, Red Sox 0)

Game 2 was all about Justin Verlander, who shut the Red Sox out for 7 and 2/3 innings while throwing a career high 132 pitches. Josh Beckett picked up his first loss since April 5 against Cleveland, which was his first appearance of the season.

“Beckett’s stuff was up in the first inning, and he gave up a couple runs,” Red Sox manager Teryy Francona said. “After that, Verlander never gave us a chance. He’s one of the best in baseball. We made him work, but the higher he got into the pitch count, the harder he threw.”

Detroit got two of their runs in the first off a Brennan Boesch RBI double and a Miguel Cabrera RBI single. Their third and final run came in the eighth on a Don Kelly RBI single.

The loss halted the Red Sox winning streak. Boston had won 13 of their previous 15 games.

Tags: Clay Buckholz, David Ortiz, Detroit Tigers, Josh Beckett, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Red Sox