Here’s some more reaction from the Tigers:

• Curtis Granderson: "I probably saw maybe four pitches which to me I think is average to above-average in terms of the amount of pitches. Everyone says he’s got six or whatever. If he did throw them, some of them looked very similar to the other ones. And if that’s the case, he can definitely be effective with that."
• Gary Sheffield: "To be honest with you, it’s a comfortable at-bat, but he hits his spots. When you hit the spot and keep the ball down, you have success. If you get behind in the count and make a quality pitch, you’re still not going to do too much damage to it. And that’s what he did. Even when we took good swings, we hit it off the end of the bat or we hit a hard ground ball."
• Brandon Inge: "Mainly more than anything, it was his delivery. It would be nice and slow, and then all of a sudden, he would kind of jump at you. And that’s what kind of throws everyone’s timing off. Had a very sneaky fastball."

Inge cautioned, "He didn’t stand out to be the most dominating thing I’ve ever seen." But he certainly looked like a good pitcher to them. The fact that he could get so many early outs — less than a handful of three-ball counts all night by my count — shows that he was pitching aggressively with some deceptive movement. These hitters don’t chase anymore to the extent they used to. Efficient outings like that are more often a credit to the pitcher now than an indictment on the Tigers lineup.

As for Granderson in center field, he wasn’t sure what it was that threw him off on Coco Crisp’s line drive or on some of the other balls, including the Julio Lugo liner where he made a diving catch. He didn’t think it was the lights, though.

Didn’t ask anyone whether a long night of traveling had anything to do with the hitting. For what it’s worth, they didn’t get into the hotel here in Boston until almost 4:30 in the morning.

Tim Byrdak is here at Fenway Park, and if for some reason the Tigers need to fill some innings, he’ll be the guy to do it since Grilli and Ledezma are unavailable. Polanco gets a day off to rest his back following three games on the artificial turf and a late-night flight. Virgil Vasquez flew with the team to Boston and was going to take a car service to Pawtucket, where he’ll rejoin the Mud Hens before they fly back to Toledo tomorrow morning.

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Guillen, SS
6. Rodriguez, C
7. Casey, 1B
8. Perez, 2B
9. Inge, 3B