With a 1-0 cushion in his back pocket, courtesy of Alex Avila's RBI single in the top half of the second inning, Max Scherzer went back to work against the Red Sox. He set the Red Sox down in order and picked up two more strikeout victims, Mike Carp and Jonny Gomes, bringing his punch-out total to four through two innings.
Tigers vs. Red Sox score update, ALCS Game 2: 1-0 Tigers, Top 5
The Cy Young candidate has eight strikeouts through the first four innings.
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Clay Buchholz looked much sharper in his third inning of work, picking up his third strikeout of the night as he began his second trip through Detroit's lineup. Buchholz's 1-2-3 inning wouldn't have been possible without some help from his defense, though. Dustin Pedroia helped pick up his starter by ranging to his left and robbing Austin Jackson of a single.
Scherzer continued to demonstrate his dominance over the Red Sox in the third, striking out the side, but also issuing his first walk of the night.
Facing the heart of the Tigers' order in the fourth, Buchholz struck out Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder back-to-back before getting a bit wild. First, he grazed Victor Martinez with a slider on an 0-2 pitch, then threw a wild pitch high and to the backstop, moving Martinez to second base. While Buchholz induced the ground ball he needed to get out of the inning, shortstop Stephen Drew booted the ball with his glove and had no chance to get either Martinez at third base, nor Jhonny Peralta at first. However, the righty got Alex Avila to fly out to center field to end the threat.
In the home half of the fourth, Scherzer picked up where he left off in the third, whiffing leadoff man Dustin Pedroia. Scherzer also walked his second batter, David Ortiz, but quickly escaped trouble by getting Mike Carp to ground into a double play. So far in this series, the Red Sox have just one hit.
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