Tigers send Red Sox to 5th straight loss, 8-6
DETROIT (AP) — Miguel Cabrera had three hits, Eugenio Suarez homered for his first hit in the majors and the Detroit Tigers beat Boston 8-6 Saturday night, sending the Red Sox to their fifth straight loss.
Detroit has won all five games against the Red Sox this season after losing to them in the AL championship series last year.
Suarez's solo shot in the fourth came in the shortstop's third at-bat since he was called up from the minors earlier in the week to make his big league debut.
Nick Castellanos also homered for the Tigers, and Dustin Pedroia went deep for Boston. Detroit closer Joe Nathan allowed two runs in the ninth in a non-save situation, but retired Stephen Drew on a flyout with two on to end it.
Max Scherzer (7-2) allowed four runs and 11 hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Tigers. He struck out nine and walked one.
Jon Lester (6-7) allowed five runs and 12 hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Castellanos and Austin Jackson had three hits as well for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who had lost five straight before taking the first two games of this series. They scored two runs in the first off Lester on an RBI double by Victor Martinez and a run-scoring single by Torii Hunter. Rajai Davis added an RBI single in the second.
Castellanos hit a solo homer in the third. After Pedroia's solo homer in the fourth, Suarez led off the bottom half that carried past the fence in left for a 5-1 Detroit lead.
Suarez became the first Detroit player to homer for his first career hit since Wilkin Ramirez on May 20, 2009. Ramirez has not homered in the majors since.
Lester entered the day with 95 strikeouts, the third-most in the American League, but he didn't fan a single Detroit hitter.
The Red Sox did chip away against Scherzer. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit an RBI single in the fifth, and Stephen Drew added one of his own in the sixth.
In the bottom half, Ian Kinsler hit an RBI triple and scored on a single by Cabrera.
David Ortiz chased Scherzer with an RBI double in the seventh to make it 7-4, but Al Alburquerque came on and got Grady Sizemore to ground out with runners on second and third for the third out.
Boston is now in the middle of another long streak. The Red Sox lost 10 in a row, then won seven straight before their current losing skid.
Boston's Xander Bogaerts stole third in bizarre fashion in the ninth when Castellanos left the base unattended to shift from his normal spot at third to the right side of the infield with Ortiz batting. Bogaerts took off for third, and Nathan ran over from the mound and tried to tag him but couldn't get to third in time.
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