Tigers v. Red Sox - Game I

Good news for Red Sox nation today as the Sox continue to maintain their .500 win average by beating the Detroit Tigers.  Felix Duobront and Doug Fister were the starting pitchers, both struggling in the first few innings.  The Sox got the 1-0 lead early on in the first inning when David Ortiz doubled in Adrian Gonzalez.   The next inning, Delmon Young homered over the Green Monster to tie the score at 1-1.  In the bottom of the second, the Red Sox rallied to bring in three more runs thanks to the RBI singles of Mike Avilies, Daniel Nava and Dustin Pedroia to make the score 4-1.  Even after Jim Leyland's ejection after arguing the foul tip call earlier on Mike Aviles, the bats proved to be still hot when Jarrod Saltalamacchia went deep in the third to make the score 5-1.  In the fifth, inning, Gerald Laird homered over the Green Monster to bring the score 5-2. 

After some pitching changes, the Sox maintained the lead when Will Middlebrooks had an RBI infield single in the sixth and Mike Aviles had an RBI double in the eighth.  Coming into the ninth, the score 7-2, Aceves took the mound and for the second straight game, gave up a two run homer (this one to Johnny Peralta) to make the score 7-4.  Aceves eventually closed out the game but certainly failed to help out his struggling ERA, raising it up to 5.32. 

In my opinion, the player of the game goes to Ryan Sweeney who has come back from the DL due to a concussion.  Sweeney went 3 for 4 today with a double, bringing up his batting average to .325, the highest on the Red Sox.  In other news, Jarrod Saltalamacchia went deep again today for his ninth home run of the season, second on the team behind Ortiz (10).   Also, Dustin Pedroia had to leave the game today in the fifth inning after diving for a play.  He had left with a "jammed thumb" when Nick Punto came in to replace him, who by the way has been absolutely horrendous for the Red Sox, batting a mere .128.

The win today was certainly sentimental, not only for Trot Nixon (the Red Sox veteran whom the game was dedicated to) but for the morale of the team.  They are currently 24-24, still below the 25-24 Toronto Blue Jays by half a game.   Hopefully the Sox can win tomorrow despite the fact that Justin Verlander (5-2) is taking the mound for the Tigers.  For the Red Sox, Daniel Bard (2-4) looks to get his third win of the season and bring the Red Sox their first winning record in the 2012 season.