Tonight’s Sox-Tiger game was typical of Sox victories–complete gifts by the opposing team. Let’s look at what happened tonight.
1. I’ve said for a while that Chris Sale gets outside pitches to righties called strikes, although they are outside the strike zone. Tonight, the two Sox radio announcers talked about how he was getting outside pitches that weren’t strikes called strikes, and said he should keep pitching there since the umpire was calling these balls strikes. Shortly after hearing that, I turned the game on TV, and saw Cabrera batting with two on and a 2-1 count. The next pitch was almost a half-foot outside, but it was called a strike to make the count 2-2 instead of 3-1. Cabrera gave the umpire a shocked look.
2. In the top of the 5th, leading 4-3, the Tigers had first and third, no outs. The batter hit a ground ball where the Sox decided to go for the double play, and the runner on third held and did not score. That would have been a big run.
3. Up 6-3 in the bottom of the 8th, the Tigers got the first two outs. Their pitcher then gave up 6 straight hits, and 4 runs, to turn a 6-3 lead into a 7-6 deficit. It was obvious the pitcher had lost it and should have been removed before the Sox took the lead, but they left him in and it cost them the game.
4. In the top of the 9th, down 7-6 with one out, the Tiger batter singled to give the Tigers first and third with one out. The batter rounded first too far, and was thrown out trying to get back to the base, turning a first-and-third one-out tying-run-on-third situation to a man on third with two outs, and they didn’t score.