The Tigers unleashed an offensive onslaught against the Red Sox in Game 4, defeating the hometown team by a score of 7-3 to even up the ALCS at two wins per team.

The Tigers had scored six runs and went 5-27 with runners in scoring position in the previous three games of the series. Jake Peavy was not impressive, as he was charged with seven runs in three innings of work on Wednesday. He allowed five runs to score in the second inning, after walking three batters in the frame. Red Sox starting pitchers had walked one batter in Games 1-3 combined.

Bold Tigers Lineup Changes Paid Off

Jim Leyland altered his lineup prior to Game 4, most notably putting Torii Hunter in the leadoff spot and having Miguel Cabrera bat second. Austin Jackson dropped to eighth in the order, and knocked in two runs while reaching base four times.

It has been a long held belief of the sabermetric community that a team’s best hitter should bat second in the lineup instead of third or fourth. The reasoning, explained in Tom Tango’s The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, is that each spot in the lineup gets 18 extra plate appearances per season than the spot below it. Having the team’s best hitter, such as Cabrera, batting second could squeeze the equivalent of an extra four games per season of production out of him.

Hunter and Cabrera combined to knock in four runs out of the first two spots in the lineup, and no sequence demonstrated the importance of their presence at the top of the batting order more than the Tigers five-run second inning.

After Jose Iglesias grounded into an RBI force out to second base (it should’ve been an inning-ending double play, but Dustin Pedroia mishandled it), Hunter lined a two-run double to left field and Cabrera knocked a one-run single into centerfield.

Maybe Hunter or Cabrera can’t bunt base runners along. But it doesn’t matter. They can actually drive them in.

Peavy Had No Command

Preamble: Peavy’s start on Wednesday was not a referendum on the Iglesias trade. If Ryan Dempster or Felix Doubront had to make every one of their starts down the stretch, the Red Sox may not be in the position they’re currently in. They probably wouldn’t have defeated the Rays in Game 4 of the ALDS without Peavy’s stellar outing. He helped the Red Sox get to where they are.

Iglesias was not a part of the Red Sox’s present, nor was he going to be a part of their future. He was expendable. The Red Sox sold high on him. Oh, and Iglesias had a .654 OPS in 148 plate appearances with the Tigers to close out the season. He is the next Adam Everett. Nothing more. 

With that said, Peavy was bad in Game 4. He continually fell behind hitters, and no longer has the fastball velocity to make up for it.

Walking Jackson with the bases loaded in the second inning was inexcusable, and showed poor command of the strike zone. However, it is worth noting that should’ve been the only run Peavy allowed in the frame. Pedroia misplayed Iglesias’ ground ball, which would’ve been an inning-ending double play. It was one of two poor plays for Pedroia defensively, as he failed to get in front of a Jackson ground ball which scored a run after it squeaked into right field in the fourth inning.

It’s Bogaerts Time

Doug Fister didn’t dominate Red Sox hitters in Game 4, as he allowed eight hits in six innings of work. But the Red Sox failed to hit with runners in scoring position, and allowed Fister to escape from trouble.

A lot of the Red Sox’s offensive ineptitude in the series can be blamed on Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks, who have hit a collective .132 this postseason (7-53). If only the Red Sox had somebody on the bench who could play shortstop or third base…

That’s right, they do. Xander Bogaerts is not going to save the Red Sox’s offense, but he could be an improvement over either Drew or Middlebrooks on the left side of the infield. He puts up tough at-bats, as evidenced by his two walk performance late in Game 4 of the ALDS.

John Farrell said Bogaerts has “ice in his veins” last week. If that’s the case, he should be in the lineup to start Game 5.

Even Though Stephen Is Struggling, DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON J.D.

Kudos to The Boston Globe‘s Chad Finn for fighting the good fight on Twitter:

Finn is referring to Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS between the Red Sox and Rays, in which the Red Sox overcame an eight-run deficit on the back of Drew’s two-run home run and walk-off single.

Like, get a life people:

It’s Stephen. J.D. hit .360 in the 2007 ALCS against the Indians and .333 against the Rockies in the ’07 World Series. So yeah, it’s definitely Stephen.

NO HE’S NOT. And why do you have over 1,000 followers? I barely have over 200 followers, and at least I know the difference between the Drew brothers. Come follow me instead. Please.

Did this suck “Little Asian Boy?” HUH?

DIDN’T THINK SO.

Must-Win Game 5 Lies Ahead For Red Sox

The last thing the Red Sox want to do is face Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander down 3-2 in the series. They have to beat Anibal Sanchez on Thursday night, which is a tough but doable task.

Sanchez hurled six no-hit innings and struck out 12 Red Sox batters in Game 1. But he walked six men, and the Tigers bullpen had to get the final nine outs of the game.

The Tigers bullpen has shown to be vulnerable this series, and the Red Sox have to like their chances if they can force Sanchez out of the game in the sixth or seventh inning. Some of the Red Sox bats may be heating up, too, as Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Napoli combined for five hits in Game 4. (Ortiz, whose only hit in the series has been the grand slam off Joaquin Benoit in Game 2, has to be a factor in the remaining contests as well.)

The Red Sox bullpen has a 0.73 ERA in the playoffs. They have to like their chances if they can keep the game close in the latter innings.

Jon Lester should be up to the task in Game 5, as he tossed six and two-third innings of one-run ball in Game 1. Lester has pitched like an ace since the All Star Break, and the Red Sox will lean on him once more on Thursday.

Photos via Ronald Martinez/Getty Images and Winslow Townson/Getty Images

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