Thanks to a tremendous pitching performance from Anibal Sanchez, the Detroit Tigers were able to squeak out a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Silencing the crowd at Fenway Park with 12 strikeouts in 6 innings of work, Sanchez never surrendered a hit to a talented line-up although the 29-year-old did allow six batters to reach by issuing walks. Despite his club's lackluster performance on offense, Boston manager John Farrell was pleased with the way his team took pitches and reached base through walks, getting to the bullpen pitchers after just six innings. Farrell was also impressed with the performance from each Detroit pitcher in the Game 1 loss.
"Whether it was Sanchez or every guy they brought out of the bullpen, it was power stuff,'' Farrell said shortly after the loss. ''To chase a very good starter after six innings, I thought we succeeded in that right. We're down a run. That game is still very much in the balance with every time we come to the plate. We achieved what we set out to do and that was to get in the bullpen in the middle innings. And, unfortunately, it didn't work out."
Sending 2013 Cy Young front runner Max Scherzer (21-3, 2.90 ERA) to the mound where he'll be opposed by Boston's Clay Buchholz, Tigers manager Jim Leyland knows another close postseason came could be in order but hopes his club is able to establish more opportunity to produce runs despite the fact that they're set to face a pitcher who posted 12-1 record in 16 starts with a brilliant 1.74 ERA.
We could have done a little better with opportunities," Leyland said. "We have to do a little bit better. But what you're seeing is a lot of good pitching. There [were] two playoff games today, both 1-0 scores. That tells you the quality of pitching in the postseason. We have to do better with our opportunities, but on this one we were able to hold on."
ALCS Game 2: Boston vs. Detroit - DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Sunday, October 13
TIME: 8:00pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: FOX
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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