In one of his better outings of the season, Justin Verlander threw eight innings of one-run ball for the Tigers. Boston DH David Ortiz, 10-for-27 lifetime against Detroit starter Justin Verlander, sat out with a scheduled night off…. They finally capitalized in the fourth, with Hanley Ramirez reaching on a leadoff single, Mike Napoli working a nine-pitch walk and Blake Swihart doubling just inside the first base bag to score Ramirez from second and give Boston a 1-0 lead.
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RAYS 3, ORIOLES 1: In St. Petersburg, Florida, Tim Beckham snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-out, bases-loaded single to lift Tampa Bay.
Cespedes, acquired in a trade for left-hander Jon Lester at last year’s non-waiver deadline, homered in the first on a hanging pitch from knuckleballer Steven Wright (3-4), with the ball hitting high off a billboard above the Green Monster and caroming onto the field.
And Ortiz, 17 home runs shy of 500, earned the fans’ wrath when he failed to hustle down the line on a tapper back to the mound in the sixth. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Rosenthal that the team has conversations with clubs that are willing to sell so they can see “what they’re willing to sell and what their price tags are”, so we shouldn’t make too much of their reported interest in Cueto and Hamels quite yet, though it is a situation to keep an eye on. “That wasn’t the case in that situation”. Every member of the Red Sox starting lineup had a hit in the contest.
“Today was a day that emotions were going all over the place”, the 39-year-old Ortiz said.
The loss certainly can’t be pinned on the righty, however, as the 32-year-old allowed one run on seven hits with no walks over eight innings to go along with three strikeouts.
“Pedro is the most unbelievable human being that I’ve even been around….”
Neither pitcher was on top of their game to start things off, with the Red Sox initially taking advantage of a few early-game jitters from McCullers. The burly third baseman blooped a single over Jefry Marte’s head at first to plate Ortiz with the Red Sox’s seventh run of the ballgame.
“I don’t know if he’s slowing down or not”, Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. “First move from a dead stop is still risky”, Ausmus said.
Dustin Pedroia returned to the disabled list Saturday with a strained hamstring after the same injury caused him to miss 16 games before the break. “(He) feels like he needs a shutdown period to get back over this”, Farrell said. But he looked lost catching the knuckleballer Wright. And they’ve really done a number of left-handed starters this season:.288/.361/.446/.807. “There’s going to be opportunities for guys to step up and contribute in those spots”, Farrell said. Avila struck out, J.Martinez to third. Weeks to second. Ortiz singled to center, J. “My job as a catcher is knock it down any way I can and I didn’t do a very good job”.
After bending for four innings, Shane Greene broke in the fifth.
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– After getting shelled last Monday in Anaheim, Rodriguez started strong Sunday, retiring the side in order in the first and second innings.
