Porcello focused on business in Detroit reunion

DETROIT — Rick Porcello is enjoying the best season of his eight-year Major League career, and he’s looking forward to enjoying a trip back to where his career started. Well, not until after he takes care of business Friday in his first start at Comerica Park not in a Tigers uniform.

“I’m kind of trying to block it out. After Friday, I’ll go over and say hi to those guys, but I’m not talking to them before Friday,” Porcello said Thursday.

Porcello, who has won eight of his last nine starts, said he is focused on helping the Red Sox stay on the right path in a tight playoff race. This will not be Porcello’s first start against the Tigers — nor his first trip to Detroit with Boston — but it is his first start at Comerica.

“I think seeing them in Boston earlier this year helped, and obviously pitching against them in Boston and then coming here kind of took care of, I guess, feelings or whatever you want to call it,” Porcello said. “With the race that we’re in, I’m really trying my hardest not to let any of that creep into my head. I want to maintain the focus that I’ve had in my last three or four starts and not let anything alter that.”

Porcello broke into the Majors with the Tigers in 2009, two years after they drafted him. He went 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA as a rookie and posted a 4.30 ERA in his six years with the Tigers. He has seen a pretty big change from his first …

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