Tigers and Red Sox play to a tie in Spring Training

March 2, 2020 Photo Gallery, Red Sox, Tigers 521 Views

The Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers went head to head Monday afternoon in Lakeland. The 3-hour game ended in a tie after the Tigers made a huge comeback in the last few innings.

A look at the teams

Although spring training doesn’t count for much or usually mean much for how a team will perform in the regular season, these teams today seemed to struggle with pitching. Both teams made a lot of changes to their roster throughout the game, but Detroit’s pitching started off a little rough and Boston’s pitching ended a little rough.

The game

The Tigers looked like they were going to have a strong game after left-hander Daniel Norris shut Boston down quick in the top of first. Detroit went into the bottom of the first attempting to shake up the right-handed starter Ryan Webber getting two hits and scoring a run to put them on the board. Boston though, had a different agenda.

In the top of the second Boston came out swinging getting six hits and two walks out of Norris. Norris began to give up single after single to the Red Sox which would eventually lead to a run being scored. Centerfielder Marcus Wilson would then answer with a three-run home run making the score 4-1. The inning would end shortly after with two men being stranded on base for the Red Sox.

Hello.

Here’s Marcus Wilson taking a lap after a 3-run bomb! pic.twitter.com/0BIUx5Lkz0

— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 2, 2020

The Tigers were unable to answer to the Red Sox in the bottom of the second and going into the third Boston was not about to show any mercy.

A pitching change was made for Detroit to Zack Godley who gave up a single, a walk and a three-run home run to third baseman Bobby Dalbec. The inning ended shortly after with Boston up 7-1.

Neither team would score again until the bottom of the sixth when Detroit finally started to get on base.

Travis Demeritte hit a home run to left field and another run followed shortly after the Tigers were able to get a few base hits. The inning ended with Boston still leading but Detroit wasn’t stopping there.

In the seventh inning the Red Sox continued to allow the Tigers to get on base. Detroit drove in one run and Jake Rogers hit a home run for his first at bat on the team.

This was @_JROG_'s first at-bat of #TigersST.

He promptly sent a baseball out of the park. pic.twitter.com/MYbv3SVJhX

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 2, 2020

This closed the scoring gap a little more making it 7-5.

After not scoring for four innings, Boston finally answered in the top of the eighth with base hits that drove in two runs and a two-run home run by Connor Wong.

Going into the bottom of the ninth Detroit had one more chance to score some runs, but they would need five to tie the game up as the score was 11-5.

The Tigers had two outs with two men on and fans started leaving the stadium thinking the Red Sox had the game in the bag.

A wild pitch thrown by Phillips Valdez allowed the Tigers to score and advance on base. Sergio Alcantara singled allowing another run to score making it 11-7. Cole Peterson then singled on a line drive to center field allowing another run to score.

The Red Sox realized they needed a pitching change to get the last out.

Unfortunately, this pitching change would lead to Demeritte getting his second home run of the day. This time it was a three-run home run to tie the game 11-11.

It's never too early to practice clutch hitting.@tdemeritte11 | #TigersST pic.twitter.com/4vOf8wqcG1

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 3, 2020

Fortunately for the Red Sox it would not get any uglier as they were finally able to get their last out, ending the game in a tie with the final score of 11-11.

Ending in a tie but not without a 3-run shot for Marcus Wilson, another 3-run shot for @BobbyDalbec, and a scoreless spring debut from @mattbarnesRHP.

FINAL: #RedSox 11, Detroit 11 pic.twitter.com/ESO2lT0VOo

— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 2, 2020

Looking ahead

The Red Sox and Tigers both take the field tomorrow at 1:05 pm. Boston will face the Yankees in Tampa and Detroit will travel to play the Twins in Fort Myers.