second multihomer game this month and drove in four runs, lifting the
Boston Red Sox to a 7-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Ortiz hit a three-run homer after
Dustin Pedroia's two-run drive in the first inning. Ortiz added a solo
shot in the fourth to restore Boston's five-run cushion. He has hit
five home runs in nine games after clearing the fence only once in his
first 16 games.
Ortiz hit more than one homer for the
34th time with the Red Sox, trailing Ted Williams (37) and Jim Rice
(35) in the team's record books for multihomer games. Ortiz has 36
overall.
Clay Buchholz (4-3) gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Max Scherzer (1-4) gave up six runs over five innings in his fourth poor start in a row.
Pedroia's two-run homer in the first
gave Buchholz all the support he needed before Ortiz roughed up
Scherzer later in the inning and again in the third.
Ortiz's first homer in the series
opener went an estimated 450 feet to right-center, clearing the brick
wall that is past the right-field fence and landing on a
standing-room-only concourse. It rivaled the Comerica Park-record blast
of 461 feet off Carlos Pena's bat in 2005.
Ortiz's second homer was a majestic, 394-foot rainbow that cleared a tunnel past the right-field wall.
Brennan Boesch brought home Austin
Jackson with a single in the first, giving him 17 RBIs in the first 17
games of his career and making it 5-1.
Detroit didn't do much again offensively until the seventh inning.
Brandon Inge and Gerald Laird
walked, ending Buchholz's night, then Daniel Bard's first pitch hit
Ramon Santiago to load the bases with one out. Bard got out of the jam
by striking out Jackson and getting Johnny Damon to ground out to keep
the five-run cushion.
Scherzer was solid after giving up
five runs in the first — other than giving up Ortiz's second homer —
but the damage was done in the pivotal inning.
Scherzer, who gave up three homers
for the third time in his three-year career, has allowed 27 runs in his
last four starts after allowing seven earned runs in his first four
with the Tigers.
After Detroit's Brad Thomas threw
three scoreless innings, pinch-hitter Bill Hall hit a solo homer in the
ninth off Fu-Te Ni to make it 7-2.
Buchholz bounced back from two shaky
starts in which he gave up 10 runs, but did give up five walks for the
second straight outing.
Bard gave Detroit comeback hopes in
the eighth inning, failing to attack the strike zone with a big lead.
Magglio Ordonez hit a leadoff single, advanced on a wild pitch and
Boesch's broken-bat comebacker that led to Bard jumping over the shard
of wood and making a throwing error.
Brandon Inge's sacrifice fly pulled
the Tigers within four runs and Scott Sizemore drew a two-out walk,
then Boesch was thrown out at third after getting caught between bases
on a pitch in the dirt.
Notes
Detroit began the series with
a baseball-best 12-4 record at home after winning three straight series
against the defending champion New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and
Los Angeles Angels. … Boston manager Terry Francona hopes to have
Josh Beckett (sore back) and Mike Cameron (abdominal strain) healthy
enough to play in the next series on the road against the Yankees. …
Detroit called up OF Casper Wells, optioned RHP Alfred Figaro to
Triple-A Toledo and plan to send Wells back to the minors Sunday to
clear a roster spot for RHP Armando Galarraga to start in the series
finale.