Tonight's Game 4 starters in Detroit are Rick Porcello and A.J. Burnett. I'm going to show you two first inning event sequences. Can you spot which sequence belonged to which pitcher?
Tigers vs. Yankees: Rick Porcello Cruises Through First, A.J. Burnett Does Not
Out
Out
OutWalk
Out
Out
Walk
Walk
Out
Correct! Porcello rolled through the top of the Yankees' order on 11 pitches, and then Burnett got himself into a whole mess of trouble before narrowly escaping. Granted, one of those three walks was intentional, but then the first out was also intentional, as Ramon Santiago popped up a sac bunt attempt, so...
With two out and the bases loaded, Burnett faced Don Kelly and fell behind with a ball. The next pitch was a fastball in the low-away corner and Kelly ripped it on a line into center. Curtis Granderson hesitated, backtracked, and made a full extension catch to save several runs. At least three would've scored had the ball cleared Granderson's head, and Kelly might have even come all the way around, given that Granderson was falling down.
But Granderson made the catch, and Burnett put up a zero. I suppose the Yankees don’t really care how he posts zeroes, so long as he does. And oh by the way, as I was writing this Porcello threw a 1-2-3 second. So now it’s right back to A.J. again!
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