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Jose Iglesias, a former Red Sox player, scoring on a double by Torii Hunter in the Tigers' five-run second inning against Jake Peavy.
DETROIT — The Tigers' bats had gone cold. Their leadoff man could not get on. Their two star sluggers were either hobbled or hitting singles. They had scored six runs in three games and had won only once. Something needed to change.
So Jim Leyland, the Detroit manager, thought long and hard Tuesday night and wrote out a new lineup. He showed it to a few people he trusted; his coaches approved; and the players were notified. Everyone, he said, was on board.
Austin Jackson, his leadoff man, who had gone 3 for 33 in the postseason, was dropped to eighth in the order, and everyone else moved up. Torii Hunter would lead off, followed by the hobbled Miguel Cabrera and the meek Prince Fielder.
It turned out to be a stroke of genius. The Tigers exploded for five runs in the second inning Wednesday and went on to a 7-3 win over the Red Sox in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, tying it at two games apiece.
The series had been slipping away from the Tigers. They had spoiled great pitching performances by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, losing Games 2 and 3, and now they faced Jake Peavy, the veteran starter whom the Red Sox acquired at the trade deadline from the White Sox. Peavy was familiar with them, their warts and weaknesses.
He set down the Tigers in order in the first inning. But in the second, Victor Martinez singled, and Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila drew walks to load the bases. Omar Infante flied out, and then Jackson came to bat. He had struck out 18 times in the postseason, but Peavy walked him on four pitches to force in a run.
The next batter, Jose Iglesias, whom the Red Sox had traded as part of their three-way deal to acquire Peavy, hit a grounder to second. It might have led to a double play, but Dustin Pedroia mishandled the ball before tossing it to second for an out. Iglesias beat the throw to first, and Peralta scored.
That brought up Hunter, the new leadoff man, and he ripped a double down the left-field line, scoring Avila and Iglesias. Cabrera, who has dealt with groin, abdominal and hip injuries, singled softly to center field, scoring Hunter.
Thanks to Leyland's moves, the Tigers led, 5-0, and their starter, Doug Fister, the often forgotten starter in their loaded rotation, was rolling.
The day before, Fister had said he would not try to match his fellow starters, Anibal Sanchez, Scherzer and Verlander, who had each thrown gems against the Red Sox. Fister is a different pitcher, one who relies on sinkers and ground balls, not strikeouts, and he said, "It's an honor for me to be a part of this rotation."
He did not carry a no-hitter into the fifth inning, as the other three had. The third batter he faced, Pedroia, singled. But he stayed steady. In his six previous postseason starts, dating to 2011, Fister had compiled a 2.15 earned run average.
He spread eight hits over six innings and held the Red Sox to one run. Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a run-scoring single in the sixth. The Red Sox were still threatening, with runners on first and second and only one out, but Fister struck out Stephen Drew and induced the pinch-hitter Mike Carp to ground out. Fister even did his best Verlander impersonation, striking out seven.
When he left the game, though, a cautious feeling spread throughout Comerica Park. The Tigers' bullpen had been shaky. In Game 2, it had blown a 5-1 lead handed over by Scherzer after the seventh, and now the Red Sox still had three innings to work.
But Leyland again made the right moves. After Phil Coke and Al Alburquerque allowed two hits and a run in the seventh, Leyland had Drew Smyly get out David Ortiz and Mike Napoli, who had each hit game-changing homers this series. Joaquin Benoit, one of the culprits in Detroit's Game 2 disaster, allowed a run in a somewhat shaky ninth, but by then the game was out of reach.
The crowd had been at ease ever since the five-run second inning. In the fourth, the Tigers tacked on two more runs, driven in on singles by Jackson and Cabrera.
When Leyland announced the lineup earlier that afternoon, he said, "I think I'm actually doing Austin Jackson a favor." Jackson finished the night 2 for 2 with two walks, two runs batted in and a run scored.
The Red Sox tried to rally in the ninth. Xander Bogaerts hit a ground-rule double and scored on a Jacoby Ellsbury triple, but Benoit struck out Shane Victorino and Pedroia. Then the crowd roared in unison as Ortiz flied out for the final out.
The series had turned into a best-of-three, and the Tigers could still pitch Sanchez, Scherzer and Verlander.
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