Sanchez pitches Tigers to victory

BOSTON — A particularly sharp-looking pitcher early in an outing is often tabbed as having “no-hit stuff” or, the corollary, so off he might “walk the ballpark.”

Tigers’ righthander Anibal Sanchez’s combined both in an almost hard-to-fathom outing in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Red Sox.

Sanchez walked 6 and struck out 12 in 6 no-hit innings, and nearly was part of the first combined no-hitter in postseason history.

That possibility ended with one out in the ninth when Daniel Nava singled off Joaquin Benoit, fouling off three two-strike pitches, but the Tigers hung on for a 1-0 victory in front of 38,210 stunned fans at Fenway Park late Saturday night.

Sanchez was removed after six innings and 116 pitches, striking out the final batter he faced, Stephen Drew, with the bases loaded in the sixth. Four relievers kept the Red Sox, who struck out 17 times, off the scoreboard from there, though Benoit inserted some drama in the ninth.

After Quentin Berry pinch ran for Nava, Benoit got behind Drew 2-and-0 before the shortstop flew out. With Xander Bogaerts at the plate, Berry stole second. Bogaerts got ahead 2-and-1 before popping a 3-and-2 pitch to shortstop to end it.

“I wasn’t really worried about a no-hitter,” Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said. “Woulda been nice, several guys involved.”

It was the first time in postseason history, according to research from Baseball-Reference.com, that a pitcher was removed in the sixth inning or later without giving up a hit.

Jon Lester pitched brilliantly as well, allowing 1 run and six hits over 6 1/3 innings.

Sanchez’s erratic, not to mention odd, night started in a 26-pitch first when, with one out, he struck out Shane Victorino on a ball in the dirt. However, the ball got past catcher Alex Avila for a wild pitch, allowing Victorino to reach.

Sanchez walked Dustin Pedroia, bringing up David Ortiz, who came into the atbat 3-for-3 with two home runs in his career against the righthander.

Ortiz, who had a .556 onbase percentage in the fourgame ALDS against the Rays, got ahead 2-and-1 but struck out — though he didn’t think so — on a 3-and-2 check swing. Sanchez struck out Mike Napoli on a 95-mph fastball to end the inning.

Sanchez became the first pitcher to strike out four batters in a postseason inning since Orval Overall of the Cubs in 1908. Overall did so in the first inning of Game 5 of that year’s World Series. Sanchez also became the first Tigers pitcher to record a four-strikeout inning, period.

Sanchez struck out one more, but walked two as well, in the second inning, leaving him at 51 pitches through two.

It was that inning, though, where it seemed Sanchez got into some kind of a rhythm. After the two-out walk to David Ross in the second, Sanchez retired 11 straight, the streak broken with one out in the sixth when he walked Dustin Pedroia.

When he struck out Jacoby Ellsbury on a foul tip to end the fifth, it was Sanchez’s 10th strikeout of the night, though it came on his 88th pitch of the night.

Lester got into, then out of, trouble in the fifth.

Jhonny Peralta, who had three hits, led off with a double to left-center but got caught straggling off the base when Omar Infante followed and hit a grounder to first, the out recorded 3-6. Alex Avila came next and sent a hard liner to right where Victorino mishandled the ball, allowing Infante to take third. Lester kept it there. Inexplicably, Infante took off on contact on Jose Iglesias’ grounder to Will Middlebrooks at third and was thrown out by several steps. Lester got Austin Jackson to fly out to right to end the inning.

The Tigers finally broke through in the sixth. After Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff ) grounded out, Cabrera walked and Lester responded by hitting Fielder with a pitch. Victor Martinez hit a grounder to third that looked as if it would end in a 5-4-3 double play, but he just beat the relay throw to first, extending the inning. Peralta, serenaded with chants of “Steroids! Steroids!” — he was one of the 13 players in August to accept a 50game suspension as a part of MLB’s Biogenesis investigation — dumped a 2-and-2 curveball into center to bring in Cabrera, making it 1-0.

Sanchez walked three, though not consecutively, in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with two outs. But he struck out Drew swinging, his 12th strikeout of the night, accentuating it with a twisting fist-pump.

A far bigger celebration, involving the entire team, would come about three innings later