Projo Sox Blog

The pitching matchup flashed across the screens tonight at Fenway touted a battle of heralded rookies, Japanese newcomer Junichi Tazawa against 10-game winner Rick Porcello of the Detroit Tigers.

The matchup didn't quite live up to the billing, which meant good things for Boston: While Tazawa did his job in his rotation debut, Porcello got himself thrown out in a bench-clearing brawl before he could earn anything but an incomplete.

That brawl, and subsequent ejection, may have been the key to Boston's 7-5 victory.

Making his debut as a starting pitcher, Tazawa gave up three runs in the first inning, and Porcello looked good enough early that runs were going to be hard to come by.

But in the second, Porcello threw at Kevin Youkilis, Youkilis charged the mound, and both men were ejected, turning around Boston's fortunes. The Red Sox quickly teed off on Porcello's replacement, Chris Lambert, scoring six runs over the next four innings -- the big blows a Jason Bay three-run homer, and two Mike Lowell home runs. Lowell hit both shots despite entering mid-game to replace Youkilis. Lowell's playing time has been down since the addition of Victor Martinez, but his hitting has been excellent in his smaller doses.

"It feels great because I still do things when I'm not playing to get myself ready in case I need to go in the game. The situation we have now is kind of unique and kind of weird, so I just need to be ready," Lowell said.

At 9:30 p.m., the game went into rain delay, which ended at 10:50 p.m.

Tazawa was hit hard in his first inning, with Tigers batters smoking hard singles off the rookie. Tazawa, 23, made his major league debut in relief in the 14th inning of Friday's scoreless tie versus the Yankees, and took the loss in two tough innings that night.
He made his first start tonight with the team hoping he can claim a rotation spot after John Smoltz was designated for assignment.

Tazawa started off rough, loading the bases with one out. Despite all the hard contact, Tazawa could have gotten out of the first inning unscathed, but Nick Green threw wide to Dustin Pedroia on a potential double-play ball, and the Tigers piled on for three runs off the rookie. Only two were earned due to the error.

The way Tazawa handled the adversity was impressive, Francona said.

"Under the circumstances I thought he was exception. The first inning, we did a lot of things in our power to make it a tough inning, and he kept his poise, he never wavered," Francona said.

Tazawa also hit Miguel Cabrera during the inning, the second night in a row Cabrera was hit. That prompted retribution from the Tigers, with Porcello brushing back Victor Martinez in the first and hitting Youkilis in the second. Youkilis, who was also hit Monday, charged Porcello, threw his helmet, and scuffled on the ground with the 20-year-old rookie before both benches piled on and ended the brief fight. Both players were ejected, but no further punches were thrown.

Francona said he wouldn't be surprised if Youkilis misses some time with a suspension.

"You don't want to lose any players, but I'm sure something will happen," Francona said.

Tazawa settled down with his opponent gone. Despite more occasional hard contact, he held Detroit scoreless for the next four innings.

"I think in the first two innings my control was not as good as it should have been. In the third inning, I was getting more comfortable, I started getting used to it, and I think the balls responded to that," Tazawa said.

Tazawa was replaced by reliever Fernando Cabrera, also making his season debut.Cabrera pitched one scoreless inning, followed by Takashi Saito, Daniel Bard, and Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon gave up two runs on a Curtis Granderson homer, but hung on to give Tazawa his first major league victory.

Tazawa allowed four hits and walked two in his five innings, notching two earned runs. If the Red Sox can count on performances like that from the rookie all season, they'll be saying 'Smoltz who?' before long.

 Tags  Dan Barbarisi Detroit Tigers Fernando Cabrera Junichi Tazawa Kevin Youkilis

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