The Tigers completed a sweep of the Boston Red Sox this Easter Sunday with an incredible 11-inning 13-12 win. How do you capsulize a game like this in a few paragraphs? You really can't. With the type of line-up the Tigers have though, I don't think Tigers fans ever doubted that they could come back from two late multiple-run deficits to win it.
With the Tigers down 10-7 in the bottom of the ninth, you knew there was a chance with slugging Miguel Cabrera coming up third. They just needed some base runners against Red Sox closer Alfredo Aceves. Red hot Austin Jackson led off with a single, his fourth hit of the game. Brennan Boesch followed with another single setting up Cabrera. Cabrera then crushed one into the left-field stands to tie it at 10-10. It was his third homer in two days.
The Red Sox then went up 12-10 in the top of the eleventh and brought in Mark Melancon to close it out. Again, Tigers fans sensed it was not over with Cabrera and Prince Fielder coming up in the inning. The two big boppers settled for singles this time to bring the potential game-winning run to the plate. Delmon Young hit one hard to left center, but not far enough and was retired on a sacrifice fly, the second out of the inning.
Melancon then got two strikes on catcher Alex Avila, but couldn't put him away. Instead, Avila blasted a walk-off home run just barely over the left-field fence. The ball caromed back onto the field so quickly that it initially appeared to be in play, but the umpires called it a homer and the game was over.
I could dwell on Max Scherzer's awful performance (7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks in 2 2/3 innings) here, but I'll save that analysis for later. Scherzer has those types of games from time to time , but he picked the right day to be off today.
A 3-2 walk-off win on Thursday; a 10-0 five home-run blow out on Saturday; an amazing walk-off win today; a sweep of the Red Sox. Tigers fans could not have asked for a better way to start the season.
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