BOSTON – Max Scherzer and Delmon Young helped the Detroit Tigers head home on a positive note.
Additional Photos
Scherzer pitched into the seventh inning, Young homered and the Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game series sweep.
Detroit went 10-14 during a grueling stretch of 19 of 24 on the road and return home to open a three-game series against the New York Yankees tonight.
“Going on the road sometimes is a good thing for the bonding aspect, but it will be nice to get back to Comerica (Park)” Scherzer said. “We didn’t want to get swept.”
Scherzer (5-3) retired nine consecutive batters before Nick Punto led off the seventh with a walk, forcing him from the game after 117 pitches. He allowed three runs and seven hits in his third consecutive victory, closing out a strong May.
“We just let him off the hook,” Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine said. “Heck, we had his pitch count up in the 80s after four innings and we were having good at-bats. Just kind of let it slip away.”
Young hit a solo drive in the eighth to make it 5-3, then added a run-scoring single in the ninth.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 10th homer for Boston, which was seeking its first four-game sweep against the Tigers since 2004. Josh Beckett (4-5) allowed four runs and a season-high 10 hits in seven innings.
The Red Sox opened May with eight losses in nine games to drop to 12-19 on the year. But they closed out the month with a 14-6 run to pull within three of the division lead.
Young and Quintin Berry each had three hits for Detroit, which finished with 14 overall. Berry also scored two runs and stole two bases.
“I got back to playing my game tonight on the bases,” Berry said.
Saltalamacchia connected in the second inning, and Scott Podsednik doubled in Ryan Sweeney to make it 2-0. Detroit responded with three runs in the third, capped by Prince Fielder’s two-out RBI single.
Saltalamacchia tied it with a two-out RBI single in the bottom half. But the Tigers grabbed the lead for good when Miguel Cabrera singled in Berry in the fifth.
Beckett had allowed three runs in 212/3 innings over his previous three starts, but he struggled once again with the Tigers. He gave up seven runs, including five home runs, in 42/3 innings on opening day in Detroit.
“I made some pitches when I needed to and I didn’t make some other ones, Beckett said. “We kind of talk about this a lot, you’re going to have five pitches in a game that you have to make, and I think I made three of them today. The other two it cost me three runs in one inning.”
NOTES: Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez had his 10-game hitting streak snapped.
Copy the Story Link
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.