Rick Porcello failed to make a strong first impression with the Red Sox last season – his first with the club – but he has quickly remedied his image with a standout second campaign in Boston.
Advertisement
Bradley gave Boston a four-run lead with the second two-run homer of the first inning, but Martinez pulled the Tigers within 4-2 with his two-run shot.
Fulmer figured out what the Red Sox were doing, but was already in a 4-0 hole after the first inning. “They were forcing me to throw the fastball and when I did they were ready for it”, Fulmer said. “It’s hard to play with one team for a long time”.
It was the most runs allowed by the Tigers since a 12-1 loss to the Indians in Cleveland on July 5.
With a day off coming on Monday, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said before Friday’s game that Fulmer’s next start would be pushed back by more than one day. “You have ups and downs”.
Pomeranz’s improvement over the past few starts seems to have dovetailed with an increase in his fastball and curveball usage, two pitches that helped him post dominant numbers in April and May.
“That’s huge, especially against a guy who has been pitching as well as Michael”, Porcello said. “He’s always been a successful pitcher by throwing the sinker primarily”.
Porcello was pitching for the first time at Comerica Park as a member of the Red Sox. The Red Sox acquired Porcello in December 2014 from Detroit for Cespedes, who was then moved at the Trade Deadline last season to NY for Fulmer.
Porcello denied having any extra motivation and said, “Tonight was just back to business”.
“After a year, I think you start to settle in”, he said. “It was still weird being on the opposite side, though”. He has a 3.56 ERA in his last five starts, which includes a five-run outing against the Los Angeles Angels to close out July (those two starts were sandwiched around a quality start against the Tigers, naturally). Miguel Cabrera’s run-scoring single made it 3-2 and gave him 1,000 RBIs for his Detroit tenure and 1,523 overall in a career that started in 2003 with the Marlins.
Up Next: The Tigers look to get the series lead tomorrow evening as they send Daniel Norris to the mound in search of his second win of the season.
After a come from behind victory yesterday afternoon, the Tigers turned to rookie sensation Michael Fulmer to try and string together a couple of key wins.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 4-2 with a two-run home run by J.D. Martinez in the second inning.
Ramirez doubled home two runs off reliever Bruce Rondon in the seventh and again off Mark Lowe in the eighth to give Boston a 10-2 margin.
The Boston Red Sox have been doing a lot of winning the past few weeks but need more to capture first in the AL East. He has kept runs off the board in his two starts since being recalled in early August, holding opponents to three runs in 10 1/3 innings.
Both pitchers settled down after that, and the score didn’t change until the sixth.
David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia were reinserted into the starting lineup after a night off and both had multi-hit performances.
An interesting stat that Porcello has on his record is his home and away splits, while he was with Detroit his ERA was better on away games for his last 3 years with the team. He would then progress to a simulated game before reporting to the minors for rehab games.
Buchholz and Detroit’s Matt Boyd each allowed a run in six innings, leaving the game in the hands of the relievers.
Xander Bogaerts is 1-for-2.
On Friday night, they finally got to see it.
Advertisement
Dombrowski was let go in early August after almost 14 seasons as president and general manager of the Tigers.
