Francisco Rodriguez set down the Red Sox in the ninth to record his 29th save. In Chicago against the White Sox in his last start, Fulmer pulled a no-decision with five innings, six hits and four earned. Boston (55-43) holds one of those two coveted spots, trailing Toronto by 1/2 a game for the top wild-card spot.
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But he’s also giving up a lot of hits (19 in 18 innings) and he’s gotten through the sixth inning just once in his three outings.
But before Wednesday, the Sox had been just 3-35 when trailing after seven innings and they had enjoyed only two walkoff wins all season. McCann homered with one out in the sixth to give Detroit a 3-1 lead.
It was the first career homer in Fenway for Iglesias, who started his career in Boston before being traded to Detroit in 2013.
Iglesias scored his second run of the game in the eighth, trotting across home plate on Martinez’s single off reliever Clay Buchholz to make it 4-1. “There will be games where I think it’s more important to use him than others and this was one of ’em”.
Pomeranz understands and acknowledges his innings total; although for what it’s worth, he also said his “arm feels good” and that he is “not real concerned at all” about the workload. “I know it was just one inning of work, but that was the best we’ve seen him”.
“I guess with all the offense, really from both sides, it’s a little ironic that a walk was the difference”, Ausmus said.
Boston loaded the bases on three straight singles off Justin Wilson to begin its half of the eighth.
Boston’s hitters had several long at-bats against Verlander, pushing his pitch count above 40 through just two innings. Sandy Leon hit a ground-rule double and moved to third on a groundout to second. He could make a rehab start as soon as this weekend. But is it enough for the Red Sox to be serious contenders in 2016? Red Sox RHP Sean O’Sullivan will start on the path to returning from left knee patellar tendonitis (on the DL since July 9) by pitching three innings for Pawtucket on Thursday.
Then again, every victory for the Tigers has been hard-fought in the eyes of manager Brad Ausmus – and he expects more of the same Tuesday night.
Rondon hit triple digits on the radar gun in striking out Hanley Ramirez for his first out of the night, with the Tigers holding onto a one-run lead in the seventh. The Red Sox will be heading west in rough shape indeed.
If you ever have a chance to attend a game there, I would highly suggest doing so. “I was in Texas, sitting in Triple-A and they traded for me, gave me an opportunity to play here – kind of resurge, resurrect my career”.
Mike Aviles is 1-f0r-3. Overall, Wright has allowed more than three earned runs in only three of his 13 starts this season.
Rodriguez navigated a couple of tough assignments easily over the past two days, recording a four-out save Monday before securing another slim lead in the Detroit Tigers 9-8 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
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On a night when the Detroit Tigers needed a strong-willed performance from their bullpen to clamp down a seesaw, offensive affair, the club leaned on the usual suspects in the final two innings.
