I’m not sure when the shutdown inning became a thing. There was probably one announcer who kept checking on it, and he started a somewhat silly trend. Most innings are shutdown innings because, all things being equal, the odds will always favor a team not scoring. It doesn’t make sense to pay special attention to the total of shutdown innings over a full season.
Anibal Sanchez has shutdown inning, Tigers still lead
But it’s still something to note in an individual game, I suppose. And in the bottom of the seventh, Anibal Sanchez had a shutdown inning after the first Tigers run. It wasn’t that easy, either. Alex Rodriguez started the inning with a line drive! Right to Andy Dirks in left. Because, well, that’s the deal he’s made with whatever celestial being he got his talent from in the first place.
After that, though, Curtis Granderson worked a five-pitch walk, and he’d later steal second with one out. But that put a runner in scoring position for Nick Swisher, who has been awful with runners on base in the playoffs. He waved through a change for strike three, making him 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position for his career. Wow.
Jayson Nix struck out to end the inning, and Granderson was stranded. Through seven innings, the Tigers still lead, 1-0.
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