BOSTON -- The Detroit Tigers scored just one run.



The Boston Red Sox had just one hit.



Anibal Sanchez struck out 12 and combined with four relief pitchers on a one-hitter Saturday night in a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.



The Tigers were going for the first combined postseason no-hitter in Major League Baseball history, but Daniel Nava broke it up with a single to shallow left-center off Joaquin Benoit with one out in the ninth inning.



Al Alburquerque, Jose Veras, Drew Smyly and Benoit pitched in relief of Sanchez. Tigers pitchers struck out 17 Red Sox batters.



The Tigers scored the lone run of the game on an RBI single by Jhonny Peralta in the sixth inning. Peralta had three hits, two of them doubles, before being removed for a pinch runner in the eighth

inning.



Left-hander Jon Lester pitched well for the Red Sox, but Boston's offense was no match for Sanchez, who was effectively wild. Sanchez walked six, including three in the sixth inning, and threw 116 pitches, 66 for strikes. He had two wild pitches.



Lester allowed one run on six hits and one walk in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out four and threw 109 pitches, 72 for strikes.



KEY TO THE GAME

Sanchez had excellent stuff. It was so good, in fact, that it helped him overcome terrible command. Normally when a pitcher misses the strike zone with regularity, he also misses spots within the strike zone and gets hit. But the Red Sox could do nothing with Sanchez or the bullpen, which made a 1-0 lead by the Tigers insurmountable.



TIGERS HIGHLIGHTS

-- Sanchez struck out four -- yes, four -- in the first inning but struggled mightily with his command. Shane Victorino reached base after swinging at a third-strike wild pitch that got past Alex Avila. After Dustin Pedroia walked, Sanchez couldn't find the strike zone against David Ortiz but struck him out on a 3-2 pitch when third-base umpire Alfonso Marquez ruled (controversially) that he hadn't checked his swing in time. Sanchez, who struck out Jacoby Ellsbury to start the game, then struck out Mike Napoli to end the inning. Sanchez threw 26 pitches in the first, half of them for strikes.



-- Sanchez settled in a bit and found his command, which made him unhittable. He struck out the side for the second time in the game in the fourth inning to give him nine strikeouts for the game to that point.



-- Victor Martinez barely beat the throw to first on a potential inning-ending double play in the sixth inning, which led to the first run of the game. Miguel Cabrera walked and Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out. Martinez followed with a slow chopper to shortstop and was ruled safe at first on the throw from Dustin Pedroia. Jhonny Peralta then swung at a 2-2 pitch from Lester and hit a soft line-drive single to center field to score Cabrera from third base. That gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.



TIGERS LOWLIGHTS

-- Peralta led off the fifth inning with a double but then got caught leaning the wrong way on a sharp grounder to first by Omar Infante. First baseman Mike Napoli made a risky play by throwing to second, and Peralta was out on a close play. It turned out to be costly when Alex Avila followed with a single to right field. The Tigers recorded another out on the bases when Infante, who was running on contact, was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to third by Jose Iglesias.



-- The Tigers had plenty of chances to score more runs against Lester but couldn't get it done. They stranded two runners in the first, fifth and sixth innings. The Tigers also loaded the bases but didn't score a run in the top of the eighth.



-- Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew made a spectacular over-the-shoulder running catch on a fly ball to shallow left field by Prince Fielder for the final out of the top of the ninth inning. The Tigers had runners on second and third at the time, so the catch prevented two runs from scoring.



OTHER GAME NOTES

-- Sanchez is the second pitcher in Major League Baseball history to strike out four in one inning in a postseason game. Orval Overall did it for the Chicago Cubs in 1908. Sanchez also is the first Tigers pitcher to ever record four strikeouts in an inning in the regular season or the postseason.



-- With the Tigers holding a 1-0 lead with two outs in the eighth inning, Tigers manager Jim Leyland brought in Smyly to face David Ortiz. For his career, Ortiz was 3-for-4 with a home run against Smyly and 2-for-18 against left-hander Phil Coke, who was added to the playoff roster after missing the Division Series with a tender elbow. Smyly got Ortiz to fly out harmlessly to center field for one of the biggest outs of the game.



-- A sellout crowd of 38,120 packed Fenway Park for Game 1.



--Game 2 is Sunday night in Boston.





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