Between Chris Sale trade rumors, a cadre of injuries that included Brett Lawrie, and a Jacob Turner-Michael Fulmer pitching matchup, Friday night took on a very post-contention feel. It offered a glimpse of how the Sox will be playing out the string the rest of 2016: more entertaining than expected but still kind of a mess.
1. Perhaps it’s been awhile since the reader had both the opportunity and motivation to dust off a Jacob Turner scouting report, but he’s a bit of a nibbler. The once-revered right-hander managed to rack up 101 pitches to make just 10 outs, striking out six, walking four (two intentional passes to Victor Martinez!) and hitting a guy.
Turner’s hellbent approach to avoid contact or punishment at all costs allowed him to dance out of the first, striking out Justin Upton with the bases loaded, but hung him in the third. He hit Ian Kinsler to lead off the inning, and let him come around to score on a Cameron Maybin double sprayed to right. A curveball dumped in the dirt brought Maybin across home plate on a wild pitch, and another pensive walk to Miguel Cabrera came around to score on a Nick Castellanos single, and all of a sudden the Tigers had a 3-1 lead
When Kinsler laced one-out single followed by a Maybin walk in the fourth, Robin Ventura decided he has seen enough, and Turner got to see Matt Albers allow an inherited runner to score. There’s an argument to be made that this was better than Turner’s Anaheim start, but it’s a very weird one to make and people will likely not be interested in hearing it.
2. Michael Fulmer on the other hand, the Tigers sensational rookie right-hander, came into the night with 10-straight starts allowing two runs or fewer, and figured to face light resistance from a banged-up lineup.
Instead he had his shortstop Jose Iglesias whiff on a Tim Anderson grounder in the first inning, and two batters later Jose Abreu‘s bouncer snuck through the middle to bring Anderson in for a run. Abreu got Fulmer again in the fourth, shanking a double down the right field line that plated Omar Narvaez, which set the stage for Justin Morneau to turn on something that looked like a botched cutter up-and-inner half for a three-run homer to right, giving the Sox a shocking 5-4 lead that they would hold onto for, y’know, an inning or two.
3. The Sox somehow got Albers, Dan Jennings and Tommy Kahnle to bridge their way to the seventh inning without another run allowed, but a fun bid to see if Carson Fulmer could handle some high-leverage got pretty sad very quickly. The rookie right-hander walked three of the six batters he faced, and got charged for three runs, after Iglesias plated Upton on a bases loaded fielder’s choice, and Nate Jones came on with two outs and allowed Miguel Cabrera to rap a two-run single up the middle for the decisive blow.
4. Despite having their wunderkind chased after just five tumultuous innings, the Tigers’ much-maligned bullpen strung together four scoreless frames where they did not allow anyone to reach second base. Dioner Navarro–in the midst of a terrible year–coming out to hit for Narvaez with a runner on in the eighth, when Narvaez had already reached base twice, only to strike out against left-hander Justin Wilson to end the inning, was particularly telling moment for how 2016 has gone.
5. Abreu was the offensive star of the night, going 3-for-3 with a walk and driving in two while scoring once. If one can push aside concerns that none of these balls were struck true and the existential dread that his power will never return to its past glory, it was a nice little game for him.
Team Record: 46-50
Next game is Saturday at 7:10pm CT vs. Detroit on CSN
Lead Image Credit: Kim Klement // USA Today Sports Images