BOSTON – Several times in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the Tigers in Game 1, Red Sox players were in obvious disagreement with the strike calls made by home plate umpire Joe West.

Red Sox Manager John Farrell said that’s natural.

“The hitter is always going to have a different view than the umpire,” Farrell said.

“I can’t say that Joe West’s strike zone played any part in the way the game unfolded.”

The Red Sox struck out 17 times and did not get a hit until Daniel Nava’s single in the ninth inning.

“Looking back, they made some very good pitchers’ pitches,” Farrell said. “It’s ludicrous to think the strike zone is the reason why we’re looking at a zero in the hit column until the ninth inning.”

JOSE IGLESIAS was out of the Tigers lineup, with Jhonny Peralta moving back to his natural position of shortstop. Peralta played left field on Saturday.

With Peralta at short, the Tigers put left-handed hitter Don Kelly in left.

“We’re trying to get another bat in there,” Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said.

But by benching the light-hitting Iglesias, Detroit also loses his extraordinary defense.

To that, Leyland said so what.

“Jhonny Peralta is no donkey,” Leyland said. “He’s made the All-Star team twice for me in the last few years.

“He doesn’t have the range Iglesias has, but this is a very, very good shortstop.”

PERALTA’S PRESENCE is somewhat controversial, having come back from a 50-game suspension for his connection with the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal.

Did Leyland think Peralta would be back this year?

“That was a decision made by (Tigers General Manager) Dave Dombrowski,” Leyland said.

He was asked two other times about the matter and answered it the same way.

Teammate Torii Hunter said he had no problem with Peralta returning.

“If you dig in everybody’s closets, we’ve all make mistakes,” Hunter said, looking out over a crowd of reporters. “Come on. Somewhere down the line we’ve made mistakes.

“But we get over them and we learn from them.

“Jhonny Peralta is an awesome guy. If you got to know him, you wouldn’t boo him.”

IT SEEMED LIKE a simple National Anthem performance before the game, by the children’s choir of St. Ann’s Catholic Church from Dorchester, Mass.

But it is the choir that used to have 8-year-old Martin Richard, one of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. And standing in front of the choir, also singing, was Martin’s 7-year-old sister, Jane, who lost her left leg in the bombings.

ETC.: With David Ortiz’s appearance in Sunday’s game, he tied Jason Varitek for the most postseason games (63) in Red Sox history Dave Roberts, Boston’s most famous pinch-runner, threw out the first pitch Boston’s last four appearances in the ALCS have gone seven games (2003, ’04, ’07, ’08).

Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases