- Anibal Sanchez did an excellent job of settling down following a rough start after three innings. He minimized the damage a great deal by holding the Red Sox scoreless in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. It has opened up the possibility of a Tigers' comeback. The Tigers are doing a decent job of hanging in there. We'll see what their much-maligned bullpen has.
- Austin Jackson, on the rare occasions he has hit in this series, has done so to the opposite field. His swing on the double play ball in the sixth was not a good one. He should be trying to hit the ball through the middle.
- It wasn't like Prince Fielder didn't come through with a hit with a runner in scoring position in the fifth inning, but it was, nonetheless, a profoundly disappointing at bat. He got himself out with a feeble swing on the first pitch, something he has been doing far too often during the postseason.
- The station-to-station element of the Tigers' on the bases has particularly looked bad tonight, with Cabrera getting thrown out at home, and not getting to second when he singled deep into left-center field.
- You hear it all the time in this town to the point it's almost because a trite cliché, but "Alex Avila takes an incredible beating behind home plate as the Tigers' catcher." But you what, it isn't just a saying, it's true. It's amazing, honestly. Any way Avila can get hit at his position, he does, and over and over. I've never seen anything quite like it. But Brayan Pena came up with a huge hit in his place in the sixth inning.