Tigers Hit 3 Home Runs to Avoid Sweep by Red Sox

By KC Downey in Featured, Red Sox, Top Story ⋅ August 1, 2012 at 11:14pm ⋅ Post a comment

Prince Fielder (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

The Red Sox have been pretty good as of late, and the Yankees have been pretty bad as of late, so if you’re one of the few remaining optimistic Red Sox fans, Wednesday could mean a lot.

Instead, the Yankees woke up, beating down the Orioles 12-3…and the Red Sox were taken to town by the Tigers, losing 7-5. The Red Sox are now nine games behind the Yanks in the AL East race (which is over), but remain within four games of the Wild Card lead.

Aaron Cook was on the mound for the Sox, and was bad yet again, allowing six runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. Most of the damage was done during a bad fifth inning in which Cook allowed back-to-back home runs to Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder as part of a five-run inning for Detroit.

Down 6-1, the Red Sox started to claw back, getting three runs in the sixth inning. They got their first when Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, their second on a Will Middlebrooks RBI single, and the third on a single from Pedro Ciriaco.

They picked up another run in the seventh on Carl Crawford’s second home run of the year, but couldn’t closer after that.

Jose Valverde nailed down the 1-2-3 save in the ninth inning.

Rick Porcello got the win for the Tigers, allowing four runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings.

Random Game Notes:

Craig Breslow made his 2012 debut for the Red Sox and tossed 1.1 scoreless innings.
Aaron Cook has allowed two home runs in each of his last three starts.
Adrian Gonzalez went 2-3 and is now batting an even .300 for the season.
Jacoby Ellsbury had an absolutely fantastic running catch in the fourth inning, robbing Delmon Young of extra bases.
Young blasted Detroit’s third home run of the game, wrapping it around Pesky’s Pole in the eighth inning.