Johnny Damon’s home run in ninth beats Angels
On the plus side, none of Scot Shields’ family members were in Comerica Park on Saturday to witness the walk-off home run he gave up to Johnny Damon, whose solo shot to right field in the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 3-2 victory over the Angels.
The right-hander usually hits up teammates to fill his ticket requests here, but on this afternoon, the Shields clan was back at his home in Northville, Mich., a half-hour west of Detroit, for a party to celebrate the first Communion of his daughter, Kayla.
That did little to ease the sting of the second walk-off homer Shields has yielded to Damon, who hooked a 10th-inning game-winner around Pesky’s Pole in Fenway Park to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 10-9 victory over the Angels on Aug. 26, 2002.
“Any time something like this happens, it doesn’t feel good,” Shields said. “You’ve got to live with it for a while, forget it and come back tomorrow.”
Kevin Jepsen (seventh) and Fernando Rodney (eighth) pitched scoreless innings in support of starter Scott Kazmir, who was hardly efficient during his 117-pitch outing but managed to hold the Tigers to two runs — one earned — and five hits in six innings.
With the score tied, 2-2, and Mike Scioscia wanting to hold closer Brian Fuentes for a save situation, the manager’s relief choices came down to Shields, who looked better in his last two outings after a very shaky start, or inconsistent Jason Bulger.
Scioscia went with Shields, whose return from left-knee surgery that sidelined him for most of 2009 has been marred by control problems. Entering Saturday, he had walked eight in six innings, and he now has an 11.37 earned-run average in nine games.
“Situations are going to find all of our guys in the bullpen,” said Scioscia, whose relief corps is not nearly as deep as he thought it would be. “We need Scot to bring his game and do what he can do. He’s been throwing better. It just didn’t happen this afternoon.”
Shields got Austin Jackson to line out to second baseman Howie Kendrick, who made a leaping grab for the first out of the ninth, but he got behind Damon with two balls.
“I didn’t want to go to 3-0,” Shields said. “I tried to go inside with a fastball, but I left it middle in, and he got it.”
Damon also was involved in a key play in the sixth inning, making a one-hop throw from left field to nail Hideki Matsui at the plate and preserve a 2-2 tie.
With two out and slow-footed Matsui running on contact, Damon, who has one of the weakest throwing arms in baseball, charged Juan Rivera’s single and looped a throw to catcher Gerald Laird, who blocked the plate as he applied the tag.
“I thought my foot got in there first,” Matsui said through an interpreter.
So did Scioscia, who argued the call. Replays showed that Matsui beat the tag, but umpire Gary Cederstrom called him out.
“It’s tough to have a run taken off the board, but you can’t hang your head on that play,” Scioscia said. “You have to play at a high enough level to absorb calls you don’t get.”
Scioscia did not second-guess third-base coach Dino Ebel’s decision to send Matsui.
“You had to send him,” Scioscia said. “That’s about as well as Johnny Damon could throw a ball, and he was still safe.”
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