Red Sox put Tigers on the brink

Source: AFP | October 19, 2013, Saturday |

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Mike Napoli homered and the Red Sox tagged Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez for four runs on Thursday in a 4-3 win that put Boston on the brink of returning to the World Series.

The victory gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven American League championship series, which shifts to Boston for Game 6 tomorrow and Game 7, if necessary, on Monday.

The Red Sox are trying to get back to Major League Baseball’s championship showcase for the first time since 2007, when they won their second World Series in four years.

The Tigers were swept by the San Francisco Giants last year in the Fall Classic.

Napoli smacked a towering solo homer over the center field wall in the second inning to give Boston a lead it never surrendered at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Napoli, who also hit the solo homer that was the only run of Game 3, also had a double and a single, and scored Boston’s fourth run in the third inning on a wild pitch from Sanchez.

Boston’s starting pitcher Jon Lester allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings and the Red Sox bullpen allowed just one run before Japanese closer Koji Uehara got the final five outs for his second save of the series.

“He’s been a stud for us all year,” catcher David Ross said of Uehara. “He’s our horse at the end of that thing.”

Napoli homered on a 3-1 fastball to lead off the second frame, sparking a three-run outburst by Boston.

Ross hit an RBI double off the bottom of the left field wall and Jacoby Ellsbury plated a run with a drive that was deflected on the mound by Sanchez. Napoli hit a ground-rule double to left in the third, moved up on a groundout and scored on the wild pitch to give Boston a 4-0 lead.

Detroit chipped away with one run each in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t get any closer.

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