It started harmlessly enough. An excuse me swing from Matt Joyce, a recent Triple A callup, on a scary splitter from Papplebon and it dribbles into no-mans land. Ok, so we can recover from that. But it turns out that was part of the problem. Renteria spits out a little league grounder to short and Lugo tried to do too much with it.
The split second glance he took toward second base made the difference in the game. The ball popped out of his glove and you could here the dominos starting to fall – and getting closer and LOUDER! The last domino fittingly enough was another little league bloop over Lugo’s head he couldn’t catch up to and it dropped in for the game-winner.
Clutch hitting was the name of the game for the Sox as they climbed out of two 4 run deficits and Dustin Pedroia came of the bench to pinch hit and even that worked! Pedroia’s 5 for 7 in pinch hit opps – incredible numbers….but it was all for nought in the end.
It was Pap’s first blown save this season and I’m sure it’s of little comfort that none of it was his fault. The Tiger batters never got solid wood on the ball in the ninth, Placido Polanco’s bloop over Lugo’s head was the hardest hit ball – and did the most damage. Pap made a great pitch, shattering Polanco’s bat but again, the ball bounced for the Tigers.
Ouch!…that one hurts.
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