BOSTON -- Lose the no-hitter, win the game.

That's a trade Anibal Sanchez and the Detroit Tigers were happy to make to take the lead over the Boston Red Sox in the AL Championship Series.

Sanchez and four relievers came within two outs of the first combined no-hitter in postseason history, striking out 17 to beat Boston 1-0 in the series opener on Saturday night.

"At this point, especially in this series, it's not about throwing a no-hitter," said Sanchez, who was pulled after 116 pitches in six innings. "As soon as you get some zeroes ... it's more important. It's more important than the no-hitter at this point."

Sanchez struck out 12 -- including a record-tying four in the first inning -- but also walked a season-high six. Al Alburquerque, Jose Veras, Drew Smyly and Benoit stretched the no-hitter through eight innings.

With one out in the ninth, Daniel Nava lined a single to center field off Joaquin Benoit to end Detroit's bid for the third postseason no-hitter ever.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I wanted it," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. "But had to think about the next hitter with a 1-0 game."

Stephen Drew flied out to right and, with the potential tying run on second, Xander Bogaerts hit a game-ending popout to shortstop that put the Tigers ahead in the best-of-seven series. Boston's Clay Buchholz will face major league wins leader Max Scherzer in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Jhonny Peralta had an RBI single off Jon Lester in the sixth for the game's only run. Peralta, who missed most of August and September while serving a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug rules, was taunted with chants of "Steroids!" and "User!" as he looped a single to center to bring home Miguel Cabrera.

It was a day for pitching in the playoffs -- St. Louis beat the Dodgers 1-0 in the second game of the NLCS, marking the first time in postseason history two games ended by that score on one day.

"That tells you the quality of pitching in the postseason," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We've got to do a lot better with our opportunities, but in this one we were able to hold on."