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Red Sox-Tigers Preview

May 15, 2010 - 3:50 AM By MATT BROWN STATS Editor

Boston (18-17) at Detroit (20-15), 7:05 p.m. EDT

After his customary slow start, Jon Lester has shown there was no need to panic.

The Boston Red Sox are attempting to prove the same about their entire team.

Lester will try to help the Red Sox move three games above .500 for the first time this season Saturday night, when they continue their weekend series with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Lester (3-2, 3.71 ERA) was 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA through his first three starts, but has pitched splendidly since. He won his third straight start Sunday, limiting the powerful New York Yankees to two runs and four hits in seven innings of Boston's 9-3 victory. The left-hander has a 0.98 ERA, a .154 opponent batting average, and is averaging more than a strikeout per inning over his last four outings.

"There's that hump that he seems to have to get over every year," manager Terry Francona said of Lester, who had a 6.51 ERA through eight starts last year and finished at 3.41, "but once he gets over it, he's OK."

The Red Sox (19-17) are hoping they're also collectively over the hump. Boston has won eight of 11 after a 12-14 start, including a 7-2 victory Friday. David Ortiz homered twice for the second time this month, and had a season-high four RBIs. After a putrid April in which he hit .143 with one homer and four RBIs in 16 games, Ortiz is batting .333 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in nine May games.

"There are a lot of people out there who think they know a lot about baseball who seem to think the season ends in April," Ortiz said. "It doesn't. It ends in October."

As hot as Ortiz is, he may be relegated to pinch-hitting duty Saturday against Tigers left-hander Dontrelle Willis (1-1, 3.99), as he and right-handed Mike Lowell have been platooning at designated hitter in recent weeks.

Lowell, who with Willis was on the Florida Marlins club that won the 2003 World Series, is 1 for 3 with a walk against his former teammate.

Willis would surely like to forget the last time he faced Boston. He didn't give up a hit against the Red Sox on June 4, but got pulled after 2 1-3 innings as he couldn't find the plate, walking five batters and hitting another. He got charged with five runs and the loss in a 6-3 defeat.

That game was a lowlight of Willis' 2009 season, when he posted a 7.49 ERA and anxiety disorder limited him to seven starts. He's returned to respectability early this season, yielding three runs or fewer in four of five starts. This will be Willis' first start since May 4, after a severe sinus infection caused him to miss his last outing and prevented him from eating solid food for a couple of days.

Magglio Ordonez had three of Detroit's five hits - all singles - Friday as the Tigers (20-16) failed to earn their fourth win in five games. They'll now try to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since a three-game sweep from May 3-5 at Minnesota.