GAME #6, RED SOX AT DETROIT TIGERS

[Bear]

RED SOX V TIGERS

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017, 1:10 PM AT COMERICA PARK

TV:  NESN, MLBN, FS-D

BOSTON:  3-2..............................................................DETROIT, 3-2

BOSTON:

CHRIS SALE, LHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA

Sale dazzled over seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out 7 in his Red Sox
debut vs  the Pirates.  Facing the Tigers often when a member of the White Sox, Sale is 8-7 with a
3.05 ERA in 19 starts.

DETROIT:

JUSTIN VERLANDER, RHP, 1-0, 2.84 ERA

Verlander used high fast balls to coax swings from young White Sox hitters on Tuesday,
tying a Tigers Opening Day record by striking out 10 over 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball.
He'll encounter a more veteran disciplined Red Sox lineup.

Aces Sale, Verlander meet in Motown matinee

Ian Browne

The Motor City has a marquee matinee matchup lined up for Monday afternoon.

As the Red Sox face the Tigers in the finale of a four-game series, lefty Chris Sale will be opposed by righty Justin Verlander in a battle of pitchers who have watched each other throughout their careers as American League Central opponents.

This is Sale's second start for his new team, the Red Sox. It will be the fifth time he's gone head-to-head with Verlander, Detroit's ace who finished second to Boston's Rick Porcello in last year's AL Cy Young Award race.

In the four previous encounters, Verlander is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA, while Sale is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA.

"It should be fun," said Tigers catcher Alex Avila, who has caught both Verlander and Sale. "I know I'm not playing, so I'll get to sit and watch and enjoy that matchup. Both of them are very similar with the type of competitiveness that they bring to each one of their starts. They both prepare completely differently, but when they're on the mound, they're very similar. They expect themselves to go out there and throw a no-hitter every time. It should be fun to watch.

"What they do before, just getting ready for the game as far as how they go about what they use as far as putting a game plan together. Having the opportunity to have caught both of them, I'm pretty lucky about that."

Red Sox left-hander David Price, who will take a key step before Monday's game when he throws his first side session since being shut down with a left elbow strain, looks forward to taking in the duel from the dugout.

"It's fun watching two guys of that caliber go out there," said Price. "You expect not a lot of runs to be scored and for it to come down to one inning or one pitch. That's usually the deciding factor in a game like that. Those are always fun games to watch."

Price teamed with Verlander on the Tigers in 2014-15 and now he gets to team with Sale for the first time.

"Being traded or playing on multiple teams is not something anybody really dreams about or thinks about doing," Price said. "I think the unique part of that is getting to see how other guys go about it and stuff like that."

Sale was magnificent in his Red Sox debut last week, firing seven shutout innings and striking out seven in a no-decision against the Pirates. Verlander beat the Sale-less White Sox on Opening Day, allowing six hits and two runs over 6 1/3 innings.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME

• The Red Sox will get Xander Bogaerts back in the lineup Monday after the shortstop missed the last three games while traveling to Aruba for his grandmother's funeral. His return couldn't come at a better time for a team that has been short-handed for days, thanks to an illness that has spread around the team.

• Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez have both fared well against Sale. Cabrera has slashed .304/.429/.587 with four homers and six RBIs.

Martinez is even better, producing a line of .435/.581/.761 with four homers and nine RBIs.

• Not many pitchers have held Dustin Pedroia down like Verlander. Boston's star second baseman is 2-for-22 lifetime against the hard-throwing righty.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170409223244940/aces-sale-verlander-meet-in-motown-matinee/?game_pk=490194

[Bear]

GAME #6, RED SOX V TIGERS

RED SOX LINEUP:

PEDROIA, 2B
BENINTENDI, CF
BETTS, RF
MORELAND, 1B
SANDOVAL, DH
YOUNG, LF
HOLT, 3B
LEON, C
HERNANDEZ, SS

SALE; RHP

[Bear]

Bogaerts' flight was delayed????
Bradley more injured than expected; inflammation of knee and
could be out a month. iono
Are we having a curse of our own?

[markj]

Moreland is turning into a doubles machine. 2 doubles so far today.

[ipot]

This is living up to the pitchers' duel billing into the 6th. 

[ipot]

Spoke too soon, tie game.  Who's got the worse bullpen, Sox or Tigers?  Comes down to that now.

[ipot]

Tigers win 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th. 

[ipot]

K-Rod can't even reach 88 on his FB but Ks Fatso and Holt (looking) to end the game.   iono

[SeaBeachFred]

Fatso is now hitting 130, making errors while Prune Face laughs and says to himself that he is getting some payback for that contract he gave him.  I told all of you last season that the team was screwing Travis Shaw and programming him to fail.  Wanna bet Sandoval will not hit 16 homers and drive in 70 runs this year?  Then again, it's not only him.  Betts isn't stepping up and right now is a minus for the team, Hernandez is a hot and cold player, mostly cold, Benny has cooled of, Bradley is out indefinately, Bogaerts can't find the right planbe to fly on, and so it goes.  One damn run today and now we know why we miss Papi.  We seem to have right now a gutless bunch of bums who can't stand up and be counted.

[Rob from Mass]

Helluva game by Sale and a tough loss.Can`t expect much when 3 key starters are out.Not bad at all at 3-4 considering not having full lineups the last 4 games.XB  having his flight canceled by bad weather sucked.

[Rob from Mass]

JBJ  to the DL. Sox hoping for only 10 days.

[elktonnick]

The position players look like a group of guys who are playing through the flu bug. 

[orwell]

The team when healthy and assembled correctly could be formidable. The bullpen and pitching depth will make the difference unless the manager frogs it up. Too many good players. If Hanley hits like he did last quarter of last season, we are in.

[Muggah]

Fatso is now hitting 130, making errors while Prune Face laughs and says to himself that he is getting some payback for that contract he gave him.  I told all of you last season that the team was screwing Travis Shaw and programming him to fail.  Wanna bet Sandoval will not hit 16 homers and drive in 70 runs this year?  Then again, it's not only him.  Betts isn't stepping up and right now is a minus for the team, Hernandez is a hot and cold player, mostly cold, Benny has cooled of, Bradley is out indefinately, Bogaerts can't find the right planbe to fly on, and so it goes.  One damn run today and now we know why we miss Papi.  We seem to have right now a gutless bunch of bums who can't stand up and be counted.

Do you see any semblance of leadership within this bunch? I certainly don't.

[longgame]

I'm willing to give a team a pass when arguably it's two best players have been out (Betts and Bogaerts).  Bradley makes a difference as well, but add to that Ramirez and you're talking half the lineup and some of the more productive hitters.

I wonder when the Sandoval experiment will be over?  He's a minor injury away from "retirement".  What a waste.

Sox need to score more than a run if they want to win games.