It only took six tries (haha really) but Boston (25-24, 12-13 home) finally lurched over the .500 mark with a 6-3 win against Detroit (23-26, 12-14 away) at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox survived a 38-minute rain delay in the eighth inning to vanquish the undisputed best pitcher in baseball (the 2011 AL MVP). Verlander (5-3) lasted six innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts and a walk.
Daniel Bard (5-5) was much better than Verlander which isn't something you anticipate writing. In 5.1 innings, he allowed two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
David Ortiz (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) and Daniel Nava (3 RBIs) along with Scott Podsednik (2 for 4 with a double and run) supplied all the offense Boston would need and Alfredo Aceves shook off two bad outings in a row for his 12th save of the season.
Mike Aviles' fielder's choice in the second inning scored Ortiz and Nava cleared the bases with a three-run double on a 100 mph fastball from Verlander in the fourth.
Jhonny Peralta (4th of the season) homered for the second straight game but luckily this time it was only a solo shot to right center in the fifth. Ortiz had an RBI double off the Monster in the fifth as well.
Prince Fielder (8th of the season) absolutely destroyed a solo homer to right (437 feet) in the sixth then cut it to 5-3 (the closest the Tigers would get) with an RBI single in the seventh.
Ortiz hit his 11th homer of the season, a solo home run that just made it over the Monster in the eighth inning.
Vicente Padilla recorded four outs ahead of Aceves for his 12th hold of the season.
The Red Sox will try to make it three in a row against the Tigers tomorrow night (7:10 p.m.) as rookie Drew Smyly (2-1) takes on Jon Lester (3-4). After an awful outing in his last start against Tampa Bay, Lester is due for a quality start against a lineup that is not very good save for Prince and Miguel Cabrera. Boston might as well shoot for .500 at Fenway too while they're riding high.
Dustin Pedroia hasn't been placed on the DL yet because he's going to try play with a brace on his injured thumb. Fingers crossed (no pun intended) that it works since he could miss 3-4 weeks if it doesn't alleviate some of the pain.
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