Boston: The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 1-0, nearly posting a rare postseason no-hitter in capturing the opening game of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series yesterday.
Starter Anibal Sanchez and relievers Al Alburquerque, Jose Veras, Drew Smyly and Joaquin Benoit combined to keep the Red Sox without a hit until Daniel Nava dumped a single to center off Benoit with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
Pinch-runner Quintin Berry stole second base after Stephen Drew had flied out to right field but rookie Xander Bogaerts hit a towering pop-out to shortstop Jose Iglesias to end it.
The five Detroit pitchers bamboozled Boston batters in registering a total of 17 strikeouts at Fenway Park.
“It’s unbelievable today with the pitchers,” said Jhonny Peralta, the hitting star for Detroit.
Peralta, who rejoined the Tigers for the playoffs after serving a 50-game doping suspension, went 3-for-4 and drove in the game’s only run in the sixth inning with a soft single to center off Boston starter Jon Lester that scored Miguel Cabrera.
Sanchez, the AL earned run leader at 2.57, set the tone from the start striking out four Red Sox hitters in the first inning, a feat enabled when a third strike got past catcher Alex Avila for a wild pitch that allowed Shane Victorino to reach first.
The Venezuelan stymied the Red Sox with a tantalizing assortment of pitches, all of which he moved around the strike zone at varying speeds.
The worst jam he faced was of his own doing, as he walked three batters in Boston’s half of the sixth before striking out Drew to escape damage.
Sanchez struck out 12 and walked six and left the game after six innings and 116 pitches, only 66 of which were strikes.
“He gave us what we needed,” said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who had left-handed relievers warming up and looked close to removing him. “He made a great pitch to Drew to get out of that inning. We stuck with him and he came through.”
Meanwhile, rising star Michael Wacha outdueled former Cy Young Award-winner Clayton Kershaw yesterday, leading St. Louis to a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers and a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.
Five days after he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning to keep the Cardinals alive in game four of the division series against Pittsburgh, rookie pitcher Wacha limited the Los Angeles lineup to five hits, striking out eight in 6 and 2/3 innings in his second career playoff appearance.
Four St Louis relief pitchers preserved the shut-out, with Trevor Rosenthal striking out the side in the ninth to seal the Cardinals’ second victory in as many days.
The Cardinals had won the opening game of the best-of-seven series on Friday night 3-2, when Carlos Beltran delivered the walk-off run-scoring single in the 13th inning.
The winners of the series, which shifts to Los Angeles for game three today, advances to Major League Baseball’s championship World Series, where they’ll face the winners of the American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers Agencies
