| Detroit Tigers sweep the Boston Red Sox to start Season |
| By Jason Behr April 9, 2012 Over beautiful blue skies and a sunny Easter weekend, the Detroit Tigers opened up the 2012 campaign with an impressive sweep of the Boston Red Sox. The Detroit Tigers and more specifically their owner Mr. Ilitch made big headlines over the winter as he opened up his check book to sign free agent Prince Fielder to a 9 year 214 million dollar contract. As well as keeping the rest of the team together that claimed the Central Division title in 2011. Justin Verlander also did his share in the post season awards category, claiming both the Cy Young and M. V.P. awards in a historical sweep. The team and the city were both ready to get things going on opening day this past Thursday against the potent Boston Red Sox from the A.L. East. Opening Day is always a festive day in Detroit and the Tigers provided the fans with plenty to cheer about. Justin Verlander came out on the mound and acted like he was in mid season form. He dominated a very strong Boston line up for 8 spectacular innings of 2 hit ball striking out 7 while just walking 1. The offense started off a little slow not being able to capitalize on getting the lead off man on in 4 of the first 5 innings. Including Prince Fielders first hit as a Tiger to lead off the second. Boston’s Jon Lester matched scoreless innings with Verlander through 6 in a tight pitchers duel. This changed in the bottom of the 7th inning as Detroit’s all star duo of Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avilla hit back to back doubles for the first run of the game. The Tiger’s lead off man Austin Jackson then came up in the 8th and led off the inning with a triple and came in on a Prince Fielder sacrifice fly. The only thing that prevented this from being a perfect opening day in Detroit was close Jose Valverde coming out in the 9th and giving up 2 runs to let Boston tie the score at 2 apiece. This single handily ended his streak of 52 converted save opportunities and prevented Justin Verlander from getting the win. The Tigers meanwhile came out in the 9th and won the game on an Austin Jackson walk off single with the bases loaded to send everyone home happy with a 3-2 victory. The second game of the series took place on Saturday as part of Fox’s national tv broadcast on the opening weekend of the season. In this game the Tiger’s bats simply exploded pure and simple. They pummeled Boston’s starter Josh Beckett with 5 home runs for a 10-0 romp. This included 2 homers apiece for both Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder including going back to back in the 5th inning. Personally I think the major league record of team mates going back to back 6 times in a season is definitely in jeopardy this year. Of course just like in the first game this game had one piece of very bad news for the Tigers. Starting pitcher Doug Fister was forced out of the game in the 4th inning with a pulled muscle in his side and placed on the 15 day disabled list. Doug Fister was a key trade deadline pick up last year going 8-1 down the stretch, and a player they can ill afford to miss for long. The final game took place on Sunday afternoon and saw plenty of fireworks from both teams. The Tigers offense started off where they had left off on Saturday and put up 4 quick runs on Boston’s started Clay Buchholz in the first, and seemed poised for an easy sweep. However, Tiger’s starter Max Scherzer had a very shaky outing giving up 7 runs and not lasting through the 3rd inning. This meant both teams bullpens would be put to the test for a second straight game. The Boston bullpen seemed to have the upper hand with 4 scoreless innings going into the ninth protecting a 10-7 lead. This was until the fireworks started for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth. Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch started the inning out with back to back singles to set the table for Miguel Cabrera with two on and none out. He promptly delivered his 3rd home run of the season to tie the game at 10 apiece. The game was then in the 11th inning having surpassed the 4 hour mark, when once again Boston took the lead 12-10, needing only 3 outs to win. The Tiger’s proved they were not to be denied on this weekend. Cabrera and Fielder started this inning out with back to back singles, and needed others to drive them in this time. After a wild pitch sent Cabrera to 3rd base, Delmon Young followed with a sacrifice fly to score him. This set the dramatic stage for Alex Avilla with the Tigers down 1 run with 1 man on. He got just enough on the ball to clear the outfield fence and the out stretched glove of right fielder Cody Ross to complete the sweep with a walk off 2 run homer for a final score of 13-12. Alex Avilla and the rest of the Tigers will enjoy a well deserved day off Monday after this 4:45 game, before the Tampa Bay Rays come to town 3 games this week. Meanwhile Boston can take solace as the Yankees also joined them in the 0-3 start category this season. |
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