Classic Baseball - Tigers Pounce and Pound Porcello

It was a miserable deja -vu for Red Sox starter Rick Porcello as he was forced to peer back to 2015 when he was regularly victimized by the long ball, and in turn, was unable to deliver key shutdown innings. During that season, Porcello ignominiously led all Red Sox starters, serving up 25 homers. 

In Game 2 of the ALDS against the '84 Tigers, he was belted for 3 long balls and 5 earned runs in only 4.1 innings of work as Detroit knotted the series at 1-1 with a 6-5 win. Porcello failed to preserve a Boston lead in the third and fourth innings, but was bailed out by Xander Bogaerts in being hung with an "L".  Tigers' starter Dan Petry mirrored Porcello's inadequacies by also serving up 3 homers and 5 earned runs in 5.2 innings.

The Red Sox bats gave Porcello an early cushion in the first inning with back to back solo homers for a 2-0 lead. With one out, Dustin Pedroia's low liner once again demonstrated the dangers in misjudging a ball in the cavernous Comerica Park. This time, it was Tigers' center fielder Chet Lemon that would be the goat as he laid out for the sinking drive, and it went under his glove, rolling to the fence. By the time it was retrieved by left fielder Johnny Grubb and relayed to the infield, Pedey scored easily. In Game 1, Kirk Gibson also registered an inside-the park homer from a misplay on a carom off the wall by Jackie Bradley Jr. Mookie Betts  then followed Pedroia's  scamper with a long drive to left to round out the scoring.

Detroit cut into the lead with a solo shot of their own in the second inning. Ruppert Jones, making his first appearance in the series as the DH, ripped a hanging curveball over the fence. Boston countered in the top of the third on an RBI single by Mookie Betts.. Jackie Bradley came in to make the score 3-1 as he led off the inning with a double. Both Betts and Bradley are clubbing a torrid .500 in the series to lead the Sawx. Betts is 4-8 with a double, a homer and leads Boston with 4 RBI. Bradley is also 4-8 with a double, a triple and 3 runs scored.

However, Porcello would relinquish the lead for the first time in the home half of the third by serving up a two run homer to Kirk Gibson. Gibson chased home Lou Whitaker who hit a one out single. It was Gibson's second homer of the series, and he is batting .375 in the ALDS with 3 RBI.

Boston inched ahead again in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Pablo Sandoval whose renaissance continues in this series. "The Panda" second behind the duo of Betts and Bradley in batting average, swatting at a .429 clip. He is second on the team in RBI tied with Xander Bogaerts with 3. Once again, Porcello was unable to hold down Detroit in the bottom of the fourth. Chet Lemon drilled a two out single past Sawx first baseman Keith Moreland, and Dave Bergman lined a two run opposite field shot over the wall in left to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.

As mentioned earlier, Bogaerts got Porcello off the hook with a blast to left center to tie things up at 5 in the sixth, and it looked as they might go ahead again in the seventh. Rookie Andrew Benintendi hat a hot shot to Lou Whitaker, and Whitaker overthrew Dave Bergman. The ball ended up in the dugout and Benintendi advanced to second. Pedroia moved Benintendi to third with a hard hit single to left which brought the red hot Mookie Betts to the dish. Tigers' reliever Bill Scherrer, who was blasted by the Sawx in Game 1, had Betts ground into an inning ending double play. Scherrer performed a complete about-face in this one, going 2.1 innings without allowing a run.

Boston's bullpen was equally impressive until the eighth inning. Drew Pomeranz and newcomer Tyler Thornburg blanked Detroit for 2.2 innings  handing to proceedings off to Joe Kelly. Like Porcello, Kelly would also revisit his demons of 2015 with a penchant for the long ball, giving up the game winning solo dinger to Ruppert Jones. Jones was awarded player of the game honors batting 2-3 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in the Detroit victory.

Boston returns home for Game 3 with David Price hoping to shed his playoff shortcomings against the Tigers' Milt Wilcox. Check out my other Red Sox classic baseball playoff with the 2007 edition facing the '98 Yankees.