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In Game 2, Fister took a line drive off his head but still managed to pitch into the seventh inning. San Francisco won 2-0.
Right-hander Max Scherzer looked like Detroit's best pitcher at times during the second half of the season, but his throwing shoulder acted up in September, so he's been slotted for Game 4 during the postseason, starting once per series.
So Sanchez is in line to pitch Saturday, with the season seemingly on the line and the prospect of a short series hanging over the proceedings.
"He's pitched pretty well against the Giants in the past, and obviously we're saving Scherzer to give him a little more time to keep recouping a little bit," Leyland said. "But Sanchez has really gotten acclimated here in Detroit. I expect him to pitch a good game. The key is we're going to have to get some runs on the board, obviously."
Sanchez shut out the Giants last year and held them to a run in seven innings in an outing this May. But in his most recent start against them -- on May 24 -- he was touched up for five runs.
"He'll throw any pitch at any time. He throws quality strikes," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We've had our tough times against him. He's a good pitcher."
The Tigers faced elimination once this postseason already, when Verlander shut out Oakland in the fifth game of the division series. In fact, Detroit has been staring down the prospect of a disappointing finish seemingly all year. For much of the season, the Tigers were underachievers before they overtook the White Sox in September.
Then they went on their postseason run before encountering one more difficult roadblock.
If they're going to overcome the Giants, they'd better turn this series around soon.
"I think everybody is going to be relaxed," Sanchez said. "We know we are home, we play really good here. We're going to keep doing the same."
[Associated
Press;
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