87-Tigers take 3 of 4 from slumping 03-Red Sox

In a match up of two teams going nowhere fast, Detroit came out on top 3 games to one. The first game saw a real pitchers duel between Josh Burkett and Jeff Robinson. The Tigers scored first on a Kirk Gibson homer but Trot Nixon answered in the seventh with a two run shot to give Boston a 2-1 advantage. However, the Boston bullpen couldn't hold that advantage and surrendered a run on a pinch hit single by Scott Lusader and further singles by Tom Brookens and Alan Trammell. Todd Walker led off the tenth with a homer off Mike Henneman, but again the BoSox bullpen came up short. Alan Embree issued a two out walk to pinchhitter Bill Madlock and Byang-Hyun Kim gave up back to back doubles to pinchhitter Johnny Grubb and Tom Brookens. In Game two, Jason Varitek homered twice off Jack Morris and Pedro Martinez pitched a strong seven innings to earn his 3rd victory, 4-1. The third game saw the Tigers score 15 runs off a variety of Boston pitchers including starter John Lowe. Frank Tanana pitched well enough to earn the victory but was unable to finish. This was the third series in a row that saw the Tigers score 15 or more runs in a game. Manny Ramirez hit two homers off Tanana and Kirk Gibson hit his second homer of the series. The final score was 15-5. In the last game of the series, Tim Wakefield faced Walt Terrell. Todd Walker doubled home two runs in the second to give Wakefield a 2-1 lead. Chet Lemon put the Tigers ahead with a three run dinger in the 4th and then Tom Brookens tripled home another run. Walker and Nixon each doubled home a run in the bottom half of the frame and then Terrell gave up a tying run after Johnny Damon stole second and third and then came home on a Varitek single. Tiger manager Tom Davis had seen enough and brought in Eric King to face David Ortiz. Ortiz, suffering from a season long slump and hitting only 171, flied out King then got Kevin Millar to fly out to end the inning. The Red Sox would only manage one walk off King as he threw 4.1 innings of hitless relief to finish the game. He got the win when Kirk Gibson led off the 8th with his third homer of the series. The Tigers added two more in the 8th and won 8-5. --contributed by Tom Davis--