Things hadn’t gone any better in Detroit, though.
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Justin Upton has had a very poor start to his multi-year contract with the Detroit Tigers.
Records continue to fall for David Ortiz like his home runs rain down from the sky.
Justin Upton drove a ball to deep center field and started celebrating the game-tying homer, but it hit inches from the top of the fence, 420 feet away. But they all genuinely like Upton. “He couldn’t continue to be as dominant as he was on an every-five-day basis”, said Brad Ausmus. Boston answered back on Friday with a 10-2 win.
When the Red Sox allow at least one home run, they are 41-43, well-matched with the Tigers who are 33-42 when allowing at least one homer. The amiable slugger went 1 for 4 with a strikeout, but Detroit fans will always remember him for his days with the Twins.
“This was a big game, especially against a team we’re trying to catch”, Verlander said. “We’re in one of those funks right now offensively”. Owens will replace Eduardo Rodriguez, who left his last start with a no-hitter after four innings because of tightness in his left hamstring.
After a relatively smooth second, however, Owens fell apart in the third.
“It looked like he had a little extra power on the fastball tonight, and I’m sure some of that was being back here”, Red Sox manager John Farrell said.
“That’s definitely a case of picking your poison, and I don’t normally like to load the bases on my pitcher”, Farrell said. With those three out of the lineup, the Tigers desperately needed Upton to step up, instead he fell flat.
With two hits Sunday following two more Saturday, Upton exceeded his trips to first base in the 10 games leading up to the weekend.
Shane Greene took over in the seventh and gave up four quick runs that cut the Red Sox’s deficit to 10-5.
Rick Porcello dominated them in his first game back at Comerica Park, and Michael Fulmer struggled as the Red Sox routed the Tigers, 10-2.
“Playing eight, nine years here, it made me proud, because you don’t see that too often right now because all the trades, the situation around baseball”, Cabrera said.
“Honestly, at this point in my career, I can’t say I was putting pressure on myself; I just wanted to perform”, he said. David Ortiz’s pinch-hit single put men on first and second with one out, and Xander Bogaerts moved the runners over with a groundout. The only blemish on Verlander’s day was a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia in the sixth inning.
In Porcello’s time with the Red Sox, he has made some not-so-subtle alterations to his pitching style. “There wasn’t a lot of activity in the dugout because we didn’t have a lot of offense going on”. Just because they’ve done it so far doesn’t mean it’s over.
Ortiz batted for the final time in the eighth and received long standing ovations both before and after he grounded out. He tipped his cap to the crowd as he walked off.
The Red Sox lost with Henry Owens on the mound, as you might have expected to, leaving the Sox with a series split they’ll be plenty happy with under the circumstances.
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The Red Sox were unable to get anything going against Justin Wilson in the eighth, though Betts walked and took second on defensive indifference. Ryan Howard also homered for Philadelphia, which avoided a three-game series sweep. Sanchez is coming off seven shutout innings in his last start.
