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Casey helps Red Sox crush Tigers

Apr 11, 2008 - 5:26 AM By Tony Lee PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - The Boston Red Sox were just full of quick comebacks Thursday night.

Sean Casey drove in three runs against his former team and J.D. Drew went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI as the Red Sox answered each of the Detroit Tigers' rallies with a four-run inning in a 12-6 victory in the rubber set of a three-game series.

Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis and Coco Crisp each added two RBI for the Red Sox, who entered their weekend series with the rival New York Yankees on a high note. Boston worked Detroit's dismal bullpen for seven walks in 2 2/3 innings.

The Tigers scored two in the fourth, one in the seventh and three in the eighth. The hosts replied each time with four-run outbursts, recording a season-high in runs in the process.

"That's always what you want to do with your offense, you want to score runs for your pitching staff," said Drew, who raised his average to .440. "Ultimately, they don't want to give up runs, but when they do. You want to try and come back in there and bounce right back. We were able to do that a few times."

"That's always a no-no when you score and you come right back and give them runs," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "That usually spells for a long evening."

The Tigers threw 212 pitches in the three-hour, 44-minute affair.

Boston's Tim Wakefield (1-0) allowed two runs - one earned in five innings, working around five walks and two hit batters to get the win. Jonathan Papelbon worked 1 1/3 innings for his third save.

Although he struggled with his command early, Wakefield was hard to hit. He yielded three hits and struck out five.

"It was borderline the best knuckleball I've seen him have since I've faced him," Detroit center fielder Brandon Inge said. "There were a couple of times you swing and just come up with air. It looks like he made a little adjustment from last year, doing things a little different."

"I felt great," said Wakefield, who is now 10-5 at home against Detroit. "Obviously my control wasn't there, but stuff-wise it was all over the place."

Nate Robertson (0-1) took the loss after giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking two. He cruised early before finding trouble in the fourth inning and later saw a trio of relievers lose control.

Although Detroit's bullpen has now given up 21 runs in 33 innings, a frustrated Leyland pinned blame on his starter, who threw 107 pitches.

"I think everybody's made a bunch of fuss about the bullpen," Leyland said. "Where you go with your bullpen is where you go with your starters. You get five innings night after night with 110 pitches, there's not a bullpen in the history of the game that will survive."

After the Tigers scored two runs in the top of the fourth on RBI by Brandon Inge and Placido Polanco, Boston posted its first four-spot in the bottom half. Ramirez scored the Red Sox's first run on a single by Drew and Casey later gave Boston the lead for good with an RBI groundout to make it 3-2.

Last year's American League batting champ with a .363 mark, Magglio Ordonez notched his first RBI of the season with a solo homer off Manny Delcarmen in the seventh, pulling the Tigers within 4-3. But Boston broke it open with eight runs between the seventh and eighth innings.

Casey had a two-run single to cap the rally in the seventh and Youkilis highlighted the eighth-inning outburst with a two-run double to give Boston a 10-6 lead.

"He's a true professional and he knows how to hit," Wakefield said.

The bottom four hitters in the Red Sox's lineup combined to go 8-for-15. Light-hitting catcher Kevin Cash even chipped in his first RBI of the season on a base hit in the fourth that made it 4-2.

Zach Miner, Francis Beltran and Yorman Bazardo combined to allow eight runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief for the Tigers.

Inge and Polanco drove in a pair of runs apiece for the Tigers (1-8), who carry the majors' worst record to Chicago for a weekend set with the White Sox starting Friday.