Over the past 5 seasons the Red Sox have done well vs the Tigers, going 22-14 (.611), their 4th best record in that time vs any AL club. Over the span, the Red Sox are 14-5 at Fenway, 8-9 at Comerica Park.
In 2013 vs the Tigers the Red Sox were 2-1 at Fenway and 1-3 in Detroit. Boston batters averaged .310 over those games. Only the Angels hit Tigers pitching better (.320). Boston’s .382 on-base percentage was the highest by any Tigers opponent. Detroit hit Boston pitchers at .282, the 4th best batting average of any of the Red Sox’ AL opponents.
Looking at individual Red Sox batters in 2013, Ortiz batted .357 (7th best vs Tigers in 2013 among players with 7+ games), going 10-for-28 with 4 home runs.
6 other Red Sox batted above .300 vs Tigers this season: Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks batted .333 going 7-for-21 and 5-for-15, respectively. Shane Victorino and Ellsbury batted .320, both going 8-for-25. Napoli batted .318 going 7-for-22, and Daniel Nava finished at an even .300 going 6-for-20.
Over the past 3 seasons (minimum 10 games), Big Papi owns a club-best .378 batting average vs the Tigers followed by Daniel Nava (.278) and Ellsbury (.261).
Now, let’s have a look at how our team and the Tigers batters have fared against tonight’s starters. Here’s Boston batters’ career performance vs Tigers Anibal Sanchez, sorted by batting average, followed by the same for Tigers batters vs Jon Lester:
