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BOSTON (AP) - Detroit's Anibal Sanchez has left the AL championship series opener after six no-hit innings with a 1-0 lead over Boston.
Sanchez walked a season-high six batters and threw a pair of wild pitches Saturday night. He was replaced by Al Alburquerque starting the seventh.
Sanchez, the AL ERA leader, struck out four batters in the first, joining Orval Overall of the 1908 Chicago Cubs as the only pitchers to fan more than three in a postseason inning. Overall did it in the first inning of World Series Game 5.
Sanchez threw 116 pitches and walked the bases loaded in the sixth before striking out Stephen Drew to end the inning.
He became the third pitcher in postseason history to pitch hitless ball past the second inning without completing the game, according to STATS. The others were Baltimore's Mike Cuellar (nine walks in 4 2-3 innings) in Game 4 of the 1974 AL championship series against Oakland and Seattle's Paul Abbott (eight walks in five innings) in Game 4 of the 2001 AL championship series against the New York Yankees.
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