DETROIT — It was an evocation, a reminder of what the sports landscape in Detroit used to look like at this time of year.
First Ben Wallace was introduced, the warrior of the Going to Work Pistons. Then came Calvin Johnson, Megatron, the Lions’ all-time leading receiver. The Lions have played three playoff games since 1992 and he was in two of them.
Nick Lidstrom came bounding up the dugout steps next to make it a triumvirate of Detroit sports heroes. He helped the Red Wings win four Stanley Cups.
Three Hall of Fame players in the middle of the diamond at Comerica Park, players who produced some of the greatest sports memories this city has known, primed to throw out ceremonial first pitches before the Tigers’ home opener Thursday.
And you knew what was coming next. The tie-in to the moment at hand.
Lidstrom looked into the dugout and waved his hand toward Miguel Cabrera. Wallace and Johnson did the same and out jogged Cabrera to a huge roar.
What a moment. What a way to commemorate the final home opener in Cabrera’s 21-year career and to recognize where that career will lead him in five years — to Cooperstown.
Cabrera fed the narrative, too, slapping a two-out RBI single to put the Tigers up 3-1 in the third inning, but the fun soon ended. The Boston Red Sox spoiled the day beating the Tigers 6-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 44,650.
But he didn’t appear to have his best stuff. He yielded a home run to Rafael Devers in the fourth inning and then couldn’t get out of the sixth.
Hernandez started the inning with a comebacker that Turnbull awkwardly avoided. He went down in a crouch, clearly in pain, rubbing the back of his neck. He stayed in the game but got only one more out.
A double by Devers set up an RBI ground out by Justin Turner. Turnbull walked Masataka Yoshida and left runners on the corners for right-handed reliever Jose Cisnero.
Adam Duvall, who entered the game hitting .476, cleared the bases, blasting a 414-foot, three-run homer to center field to break the 3-3 tie. It was his third home run.
Turnbull, who gave up seven runs in 2.1 innings in his first start, had five of the six Red Sox runs on his tab in this one. In both starts, his slider, one of his most vital weapons, failed him. He only threw six of them.
Of his 72 pitches, 46 were fastballs (25 four-seamers and 21 sinkers). He got one swing and miss, that with a changeup. The velocity on both fastball was down considerably — 1.6 mph under his norm with the four-seamer, 2.6 mph less on his sinker.
Jake Rogers’ 414-foot, two-run home run off Red Sox starter Chris Sale in the second inning turned out to be the loudest hit of the day for the Tigers.
The game started with an evocation of the glory days. It ended with another sobering reminder that those days are gone.
