Red Sox 4, Tigers 3
Carl Crawford belted a walk-off single over a drawn-in outfield as the Boston Red Sox posted their sixth straight win with a 4-3 home triumph over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Kevin Youkilis sparked the rally with a leadoff walk against Al Alburquerque (0-1). David Ortiz followed with a sharp single to right-center and, two batters later, Crawford lined a fastball to center field for his third game-ending hit of the month.
Jonathan Papelbon (2-0) helped set up the heroics when he escaped a bases-loaded jam a half-inning earlier by striking out Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera.
Ortiz homered for the fourth time in eight games for Boston, which saw starter Josh Beckett leave after just 83 pitches due to neck tightness. Beckett had allowed just one run and five hits in six innings before departing.
The Red Sox led 3-1 before reliever Daniel Bard allowed back-to-back homers to Boesch and Cabrera in the eighth. Boesch snapped out of an 0-for-15 skid by wrapping a solo homer around Pesky’s Pole. Cabrera followed by drilling a 1-1 slider into the second row of the Green Monster.
Detroit lost a third straight despite another impressive outing from Justin Verlander. Verlander, who entered having allowed just two hits in his last 17 innings, yielded three runs and six hits in eight innings.