Detroit Tigers lose 7-1 to Boston Red Sox: Game thread replay
Detroit Tigers (5-5) vs. Boston Red Sox (6-0) in Grapefruit League play
When: 1:05 p.m. Monday.
Where: JetBlue Field in Fort Myers, Florida.
TV: None.
Radio: None (Tigers radio affiliates).
Starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Matt Manning (0-0, 4.50 ERA this spring) vs. Red Sox LHP Chris Sale (0-1, 3.18 ERA in 2022).
Tigers lineup:
1. Vierling, CF
2. Greene, RF
3. Baez, SS
4. Haase, C
5. Nevin, 1B
6. Carpenter, DH
7. Short, 2B
8. Maton, 3B
9. Davis, LF
SUNDAY'S ACTION: Jake Rogers does deep, shows his cannon behind the plate in 6-2 loss
JEFF SEIDEL:Tigers willing to take any plunge to get better — even into a frozen river
Game notes: The Tigers continue their two-day sojurn on the Southern Gulf Coast of Florida with a matchup against the Red Sox, who had a confusing offseason, to say the least. Gone are shortstop Xander Bogaerts and designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who departed in free agency (to the Padres and Dodgers, respectively), and now wearing red are third baseman Justin Turner, shortstop Adalberto Mondesi, right-hander Corey Kluber, outfielder Adam Duvall and closer Kenley Jansen. Mondesi is the only one of that group still in his 20s, if you were wondering, and he has just one fully healthy season in his career —and even that was just 59 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.
Speaking of healthy, oft-injured (and oft-angry) lefty Chris Sale makes his first start of the spring. Sale has just 11 appearances since the end of the 2019 season. Tommy John surgery cost him all of 2020 and all but nine starts in 2021. He missed the start of the 2022 season with a rib fracture, returning in July for 5 2/3 innings — a five inning start and then a two-out appearance ended by a comebacker that fractured a finger on his pitching hand. While he was rehabbing from that, Sale wiped out on a bicycle, suffering a right wrist injury that required surgery and cost him the rest of the season. Finally, someone whose injury history makes the 2022 Tigers look healthy! (Well, almost.)
In that five-inning start against the Rays on July 12, Sale did what he has always done in finishing in the top six in Cy Young voting seven times (though with no wins): Get strikeouts and not walk batters, as he had five K’s and just one walk while allowing three hits and no earned runs. That said, one of the batters he has struggled the most against is the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera. The slugger, who’s set to play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic beginning this week, has a .291/.409/.546 slash line in 66 plate appearances against Sale, though, again, none since 2019, which seems like a lifetime ago for both vets.
After today, the Tigers return home to Lakeland to host the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday and the Washington Nationals on Wednesday (in a game that’s on Bally Sports Detroit). The BoSox, meanwhile, hit the road to face the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
JEFF SEIDEL:Detroit Tigers entering new age of baseball, but still welcome Jim Leyland, King of Old School
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose 7-1 to Boston Red Sox: Game thread replay
