Red Sox Tigers Betting – Two Even Teams, Even Pitchers Lock Horns In Detroit

The online betting world has to take notice on Saturday night: Clay Buchholz and Phil Coke staged one classic pitching duel a short time ago. Can they produce another this weekend?

American League Betting Pick:

Boston Red Sox @ Detroit Tigers – Saturday, May 28 – 7:10 PM ET

The community of sports betting gurus might be primarily concerned with the upcoming resolutions to the NBA’s pair of conference finals, but if those analysts take some time to divert their attention from the hardwood, there’s a particularly fascinating baseball game on Saturday night that should pique a sports fan’s curiosity. When the Boston Red Sox play the Detroit Tigers under the lights at Comerica Park in the Motor City, it won’t just be a confrontation between two teams that are trying to make an upward move in their respective divisions; this is a rematch of one of the best pitching duels the 2011 regular season has seen to date.

Yes, it’s true that Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies and Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins really showed their best stuff in a game Florida won 2-1 earlier this season. Sure, Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants has already been involved in some 1-0 games, a likely feature of even more contests the Cy Young Award winner will help create as the season continues. Yet, one of the best showdowns between two hurlers took place a short while ago, on Wednesday, May 18. The fact that it occurred at Fenway Park, one of the very best hitters’ parks in all of Major League Baseball, only added to its bona fides as a first-rate display of the craft of pitching.

Yes, just a week ago, Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox and Phil Coke of the Tigers matched each other pitch for pitch in a dandy of a display. Buchholz and Coke baffled hitters for seven full innings apiece at the Fens, and it was only in the latter innings – in a battle of the bullpens – that the Red Sox pieced together a run to grab a 1-0 victory. Buchholz is going to give Boston many productive years as a starting pitcher, health permitting. Buchholz knows how to mix his pitches and change speeds, a quality which lies at the heart of most successful moundsmen. Coke’s poker chip in this pitching matchup is that he used to throw for the New York Yankees, so he has become very much acquainted with the process of bearing down on Boston. The Red Sox have been a team Coke has studied with particular attention to detail. Every game matters, but Coke seems to treat his starts against Boston with a slightly added degree of intensity. 

MLB baseball betting aficionados do not have an easy choice in this game. Boston and Detroit entered this week with nearly similar earned-run averages (4.20 for Boston and 4.26 for Detroit). The Red Sox had scored 204 runs heading into Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, while Detroit entered Monday, May 23, with a total of 195 runs. These teams are still trying to find some consistency and momentum. In the absence of particularly revealing information, trust Coke to find a little more fire in the belly… and outduel Buchholz. Take Detroit because of the motivation level of its starting pitcher.

Boston Detroit Betting Pick: Detroit