Weekend Series

The Red Sox met the Tigers in a weekend clash. In game one, Jon Lester was hit hard and Jhonny Peralta clubbed two homers. Detroit led 6-1 going into the ninth. David Ortiz smashed a grand slam for his 22nd home run, but the Sox fell one short.

In game two, the Sox were behind 4-0 when they scored two in the seventh. Into the ninth, it was still 4-2. But Darnell McDonald beat out an infield hit and Eric Patterson ripped a double. Jim Leyland told Phil Coke to walk Kevin Youkilis to pitch to David Ortiz. Ortiz took two balls before fouling a pitch off. The next pitch was a fat one, and Ortiz ripped a gapper into left-center. All three runners hustled in to score, and the Red Sox won 5-4. That made it 7 runs in the ninth in two games for the Sox, all driven in by Ortiz.

The finale of the series had a pair of aces, 11-5 Clay Buchholz against 12-6 Justin Verlander. Buchholz gave up only two hits in eight innings, while the Sox stroked three runs against Verlander. However, in the ninth Clay gave up two straight hits, and Jonathan Papelbon came in. He gave up a monster two-run double to Miguel Cabrera, then a hard single to tie the game. He managed to get a double play, and got out of the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jed Lowrie beat out an infield single, then Eric Patterson showed bunt and took four straight balls. On a 2-1 pitch, Marco Scutaro laid down a bunt on the left side. Weinhardt, the Tigers pitcher, fielded the bunt and threw the ball. Unfortunately for Detroit, he threw it away up the first-base line and Darnell McDonald, pinch-hitting, scored the winning run to make it 8 runs in the ninth in three days.

Trivia
Papelbon's blown save was his fifth of the year.
Cabrera has now knocked in 93 runs this season.