Tigers Defeat Red Sox 7-2 for 1st Win

[April 10, 2008]  BOSTON (AP) -- The Tigers finally showed the offense that earned them preseason raves -- and ended their winless start. Detroit beat the Boston Red Sox 7-2 Wednesday night after scoring just 15 runs in losing its first seven games. Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen homered, Edgar Renteria had three hits and Ivan Rodriguez got the 2,500th hit of his career.

Still, no team has made the postseason after an 0-7 start.

The Tigers were a favorite to get there after boosting their payroll to the second highest in baseball by adding Renteria, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. And they did reach the World Series in 2006 before being swept by St. Louis.

But this season they were just 1-for-25 with runners in scoring position and less than two outs before teeing off on Jon Lester (1-2) with four runs in the fourth after trailing 2-0.

The Red Sox (4-5) lost their first game in the United States. They opened the season in Tokyo, going 1-1 against Oakland, then beat the Athletics twice in Oakland before going 0-3 at Toronto. They loaded the bases in the ninth Wednesday before Todd Jones retired Kevin Youkilis on a popup for the final out.

One day after the Red Sox received their World Series rings in a pre-game ceremony then kept Detroit reeling with a 5-0 win, the Tigers came alive after managing just one hit in the first three innings.

With one out in the fourth, Lester walked Cabrera and Guillen. Then Renteria tied the game with a two-run double to left. Thames, who stranded a runner at second with an inning-ending groundout in the second, then hit a 3-2 pitch over the Green Monster in left field.

Jeremy Bonderman (1-1) had fallen behind 2-0 in the second when the Red Sox loaded the bases on a single by Sean Casey, a walk to J.D. Drew and an error by second baseman Placido Polanco on Jason Varitek's grounder. Jacoby Ellsbury then walked, forcing in a run, and Julio Lugo singled in another.

It was the second error in two days for Polanco, whose last error had come on July 1, 2006. Tuesday's throwing error ended his major league errorless streak for second basemen at 911 chances and 186 games.

Casey singled as a pinch hitter for Mike Lowell, who sprained his left thumb in the first when he fielded Rodriguez's leadoff grounder and threw him out.

In the eighth, Rodriguez became the 87th player with 2,500 hits when he broke an 0-for-15 slump with a single. Earlier that inning, Brandon Inge singled in two runs for a 6-2 lead. Guillen hit his second homer of the year in the ninth.

Notes: The longest winless streak at the start of a season by a team that went on to make the postseason was six games by the 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1995 Cincinnati Reds. ... Inge, the Tigers' ninth batter, has six of their 20 RBIs. ... Boston RHP Mike Timlin pitched one perfect inning against Lehigh Valley in his second rehab appearance for Triple-A Pawtucket on Wednesday night. He is recovering from a cut on his right ring finger. ... LHP Casey Fossum, once with the Red Sox, agreed to a Triple-A contract with the Tigers. ... Manny Ramirez has reached based in all nine games.

[Associated Press; By HOWARD ULMAN]

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