7 key moments from Wednesday's Red Sox-Tigers ALCS Game 4

Two of the first three games of the ALCS ended with scores of 1-0, and the one that didn't featured five innings of no-hit ball and a game-tying grand slam.

So, with the Tigers heading into Game 4 trailing the Red Sox 2-1, the biggest question was: which offense would be the first to get going? Would Jim Leyland's lineup changes help the Tigers catch fire? Would David Ortiz replicate his Game 2 heroics? Would Joe Buck and Tim McCarver awkwardly high five?

Let's go to the GIFs:

It turns out Jim Leyland's lineup changes were exactly what the Tigers needed, giving themselves a big inning in the bottom of the second. Victor Martinez started off the frame with a single, and Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila followed by drawing walks to load the bases.

Red Sox starter Jake Peavy was able to get Tigers second baseman Omar Infante to fly out to center, but then walked Austin Jackson to force home the first run of the game:

After the base on balls, Jose Iglesias hit a ground ball to Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, but the Red Sox were unable to turn the double play -- getting only Jackson out at second and allowing Peralta to score from third.

Then, with runners at first and third, Torii Hunter came up big with a sharply hit double to left, scoring Avila and Iglesias, and giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead:

Miguel Cabrera was the next man up, and he came through, bringing Hunter home on a line drive. Just like that, the Tigers were up 5-0.

In the fourth inning, Detroit kept the pressure on. Infante led off with a ground-rule double to left, and Austin Jackson batted him in. With Iglesias coming to the plate next, Boston manager John Farrell had seen enough, and pulled Peavy for reliever Brandon Workman. Iglesias successfully bunted Jackson over to third, but Hunter wasn't able to bring him home -- grounding out back to the pitcher.

Miggy, however, was able to bring Jackson home, because Miguel Cabrera is a very, very good baseball player:

Tigers starting pitcher Doug Fister had an admirable game, but faltered slightly in the sixth -- first allowing back-to-back singles to Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava, and then allowing Jarrod Saltalamacchia to score Boston's first run on a ground ball up the middle:

While Fister worked his way out of the sixth allowing just the one run to score, he wouldn't get a chance to start the seventh. Leyland opted to go with his bullpen and for the most part, they did the job, allowing Boston to score just one additional run in the seventh while not allowing a single baserunner in the eighth.

In the top of the ninth, however, Leyland sent in closer Joaquin Benoit to finish the game in a non-save situation. Benoit's last appearance didn't end spectacularly, but Leyland put his trust in the pitcher to shut the door on Game 4.

Benoit's outing didn't start perfectly. He allowed a leadoff ground-rule double to the pinch-hitting Xander Bogaerts, and followed that by serving up an RBI triple to Jacoby Ellsbury:

But Benoit settled back in, and struck out the next two batters: Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia.

With two outs, David Ortiz stepped into the box, but this time Benoit got the best of him -- inducing an easy fly ball to right field:

And with that final out, Detroit took Game 4 by a score of 7-3, evened the series at 2-2 and ensured there'd be a Game 6 at Fenway Park.

In the meantime, Game 5 starts on Thursday at Comerica Park.