Tigers v. Red Sox - Game III

The Red Sox won their third straight game last night against the Tigers, bringing up their record to 26-24.  The Starting pitchers were John Lester and Drew Smyly who both struggled on the mound.  The game started off in favor of the Tigers, who drew first blood right out of the gates.  In the first inning, Delmon Young grounded out to second baseman Nick Punto for the second out while David Worth scored, giving the Tigers the 1-0 lead.  Later in the third inning, David Worth hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder, Marlon Byrd so Quintin Berry scored.  Later that same inning, Prince Fielder grounded out to third baseman Will Middlebrooks for the second out sending Miguel Cabrera home to bring the Tigers up 3-0.  The Red Sox knew what they had to do and in the bottom of the fourth, they rallied with two two-run homers by David Ortiz (12) and Middlebrooks (4) to give the Red Sox the 4-3 lead.  Later, in the seventh inning, Miguel Cabrera doubled to right field to bring in Gerald Laird, tying the game a 4-4.  In the bottom of the seventh, Adrian Gonzalez hit a ground rule double to right field to bring Daniel Nava, bringing the Red Sox to 5-4.  Later in the eighth inning, Kevin Youklis hit a solo homer over the Green Monster himself hit a solo homer over the monster to give the Red Sox a comfortable 6-4 lead. 

It was the top of the ninth and Aceves took the mound.  Facing the bottom of the Tigers lineup, Aceves didn't allow any runs, hits or walks while striking out one to get the save.  Although they haven't been able to break out of the cellar, the Red Sox have climbed up to just 2.5 games out of reach from first place, showing just how really competitive the AL East really is.  For the past 19 games, the Red Sox are an astonishing 14-5, extremely well for a team with 12 major league players on the DL.  Out of all the people the Red Sox have brought up from Triple-A, my favorite would have to be Daniel Nava, who's become the new leadoff man thanks to a .432 on-base percentage and has reached base safely in 18 of 20 games this season.  Another Triple-A player I've grown to admire is Will Middlebrooks who has been not only great on the defense as well but is also swinging a hot bat for the Red Sox.  With Dustin Pedroia gone due to a "torn adductor muscle in his right thumb," Nick Punto has been absolutely filthy at second...at least, from what I've seen lately.  Of course, Punto's batting abilities are a well under par with a mere .140 batting average, but he's been a great addition to the team as well.  Mike Aviles is an absolute beast at shortstop whom I think has a serious chance in contention for the Golden Glove award this year.  It's good to see everyone on the Red Sox contributing for once and getting the runs they need in to support their starting pitchers.  The Red Sox are to face their last game in the four-game series against the Tigers tonight at 7:10.  The starting pitchers will be Matt Scherzer (4-3, 5.67 ERA) and Josh Beckett (4-4, 4.15 ERA).  The match up should be good and I see no reason why the Red Sox can't attack Scherzer if they were able to curb both Verlander and Smyly the past two days.  In other news, the Blue Jays, 27-24, need to lose just one game for the Red Sox to finally get out of the cellar, so if the Sox win tonight, they officially tie the Blue Jays for last place.