The Tigers won the first game in the ALCS, and had a chance to go up 2-0 in games, winning two games in Boston. The Tigers led Game 2 5-1 after 7, and Scherzer was in complete command. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 2 hits, 1 run, and had 13 strikeouts. The last inning he pitched, the 7th, was an easy 1-2-3 inning, where he struck out the first two, and the third batter grounded out. He’d thrown 108 pitches, and he might have said he was tired. When a pitcher is in complete command and a manager takes him out, this frequently gives the other team new life. The Tigers bullpen has been their weakness. My decision would have been to ask him to start the 8th inning, and see how he feels. I’d tell him not to throw quite as hard, and if the leadoff batter gets on, I’d make the change. If the third batter of the 7th inning would have reached, Scherzer would probably have faced another batter in that situation, so why not have him face another batter in the 8th? Scherzer was taken out after 7, the Red Sox scored 4 in the 8th to tie, and scored in the 9th to win. There is a big difference going to Detroit up 2-0, and tied 1-1 with a loss of momentum.
In the next game, Game 3, the Tigers hadn’t scored all game, and weren’t hitting. Boston also wasn’t hitting, and only had 4 hits the entire game. In this scenario, each run is extremely important. The Tigers, who had already stranded a man on third with one out in the 5th, when they didn’t squeeze with the 8th and 9th hitters up (strikeout, groundout), had first and third, one out, in the bottom of the 8th, down 1-0, with Cabrera due up, and then Fielder. I understand that everyone will say that Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball and probably doesn’t know how to bunt, but in this situation, where the team hasn’t been hitting or scoring (nor has the opponent), I stated that they were not going to score if they did not squeeze. I said this in two previous situations with Cabrera last year, and was right both of those times. Cabrera was not swinging well in this game, as he was 0-3 with a strikeout, and was 1-4 in the previous game. Cabrera struck out, Fielder struck out, the Tigers didn’t score, and they lost 1-0 to go down 2-1 in the series. I have always said that managers need to have all their players practice bunting, even power hitters, as you don’t know who will come up in a critical situation.