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Tigers top Red Sox for first win of 2008

Apr 10, 2008 - 5:13 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer BOSTON (Ticker) -- Edgar Renteria heard the boos from the Fenway fans and then made life miserable for his former teammates while helping to finally end the drought for the Detroit Tigers.

The former Red Sox shortstop - who spent just the 2005 season in Boston - had three hits, including two doubles, while Jeremy Bonderman pitched in and out of trouble to lead the Tigers to a 7-2 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park for their first win in eight tries this season.

"That's real good because, first, we won the game," Renteria said of his three hits. "Second, it feels good because the fans booed me and that's exciting because that reminds me I'm a real good player."

The Tigers recorded their biggest inning of the season when they scored four times in the fourth to take the lead for good.

"I think it's just a matter of time with a lot of our hitters," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Certainly, not to say we're out of the woods yet because we finally got a win, but I thought we had a better approach and hopefully this will loosen everybody up a bit more and we'll have that same approach night after night now."

The Red Sox fell to 4-5 and lost third baseman Mike Lowell early on to a sprained left thumb while stabbing a sharp grounder off the bat of Ivan Rodriguez on the first play of the game.

"Mikey rolled over on a thumb again on the play early," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "The X-rays were negative. We put him in a splint and tried to calm that down. I think the best thing we can do is see how he shows up (Thursday) and how he feels. He's pretty tender."

Francona added that the 2007 World Series MVP is day-to-day.

"It's throbbing a little," Lowell said. "I prefer not to move it because I can't really move it with any force. Actually, in the top of the second, when I got a routine grounder, it hurt me a lot more. They want to see how it reacts (Thursday). I'm hoping for good things."

Boston broke out on top in the second thanks to the second error by the normally reliable Placido Polanco in as many games.

Sean Casey, pinch-hitting for the injured Lowell, singled with one out for his first hit in a Red Sox uniform. After a walk to J.D. Drew, Polanco booted Jason Varitek's routine grounder, loading the bases.

Bonderman walked Jacoby Ellsbury to force in one run and Julio Lugo singled home Drew for a 2-0 Boston lead.

The tide finally turned for the Tigers in the fourth. Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen worked back-to-back one-out walks off Red Sox starter Jon Lester (1-2). Renteria followed with the first of his three hits, a double into the gap in left-center to tie game, 2-2.

"He's a professional hitter," Leyland said of Renteria. "We know that, we knew that when we got him."

Marcus Thames followed with a homer to the second row of "Green Monster" seats in left-center for his first blast of the season, giving Detroit a 4-2 lead.

Over 5 1/3 innings, Lester allowed five hits and four runs while walking four. He did not strike out a batter for the first time in his major league career, covering 28 starts and a relief appearance.

"They're good hitters," Lester said. "I had a lot of pitches tonight that I thought were good pitches and they fouled them off. I had a lot of foul balls which drives up your pitch count. I didn't help with four walks."

The Red Sox tried to respond immediately against Bonderman in the bottom of the fourth. They put runners on first and second with none out but Lugo grounded into a 5-4 double play, narrowly escaping a triple play at first.

"I thought Bonder was pretty good," Leyland said. "He labored a little bit but for the most part he was pretty good. His side started to tighten up a little bit but I was going to get him anyways. Even if he got Manny (Ramirez) out (in the sixth), I was going to take him out at that time."

Bonderman (1-1) earned the Tigers' first win by allowing just two runs, one earned, and five hits over five innings. The righthander walked four while striking out two.

"He had to fight his way through because it was a real tough lineup," Leyland said. "Every pitch is real valuable, so I thought he did an excellent job to hold them down the way he did. We finally got a win."

Rodriguez singled to right in the eighth inning for career hit No. 2,500. It also snapped an 0-for-15 skid.