Game 141: Tigers at Red Sox - Boston looks to take rubber game
Contributing Writer
Boston’s ninth man in the order delivered the game-winning hit, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 victory and setting up the rubber game of the series with the Detroit Tigers. Will Middlebrooks’ two-run single lifted a Red Sox team that had been shutout through the first 13 innings against the Tigers. That was enough for Jon Lester to pick up his 13th win and prevent Detroit’s Max Scherzer from earning his 20th.
Ryan Dempster will be called upon tonight to earn the series win for the Sox. Dempster is 7-9 with a 4.75 ERA this year and earned a win in his last start against the Chicago White Sox, his first since July 27. He’ll look to keep the Tigers’ bats at bay and hope his offense will bring the boom.
Here is the lineup for the Red Sox tonight (first pitch – 7:10 pm EDT):
1. Ellsbury, CF
2. Victorino, RF
3. Pedroia, 2B
4. Ortiz, DH
5. Nava, LF
6. Napoli, 1B
7. Drew, SS
8. Ross, C
9. Middlebrooks, 3B
Dempster, P
Rick Porcello will start for the Tigers. Porcello is 11-7 with a 4.44 ERA on the season and is 7-1 over his last 10 starts. In nine of the 10 starts, he gave up three earned runs or less (five earned runs in a loss to the Twins).
Ellsbury back in
Despite his ailing left thumb injury, Jacoby Ellsbury is back in tonight’s lineup. Ellsbury is 6-for-7 with a double and home run against Porcello, but is nursing the sore thumb. It appears the Red Sox are going to see how big of a pain threshold Ellsbury has, as he is expected to play through the injury for the remainder of the year.
Uehara dominant again
A 1-2-3 top of the ninth by Koji Uehara meant Boston’s closer has retired 21 straight batters. That kind of reliability is what the Red Sox had hoped for out of previous closers Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey. Clearly, Ben Cherington’s best offseason signing has been Uehara.
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