DETROIT (AP) — David Ortiz had his second multihomer game this month and drove in four runs, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 7-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Ortiz hit a three-run homer after Dustin Pedroia's two-run drive in the first inning. Ortiz added a solo shot in the fourth to restore Boston's five-run cushion. He has hit five home runs in nine games after clearing the fence only once in his first 16 games.
Ortiz hit more than one homer for the 34th time with the Red Sox, trailing Ted Williams (37) and Jim Rice (35) in the team's record books for multihomer games. Ortiz has 36 overall.
Clay Buchholz (4-3) gave up one run and three hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Max Scherzer (1-4) gave up six runs over five innings in his fourth poor start in a row.
Pedroia's two-run homer in the first gave Buchholz all the support he needed before Ortiz roughed up Scherzer later in the inning and again in the third.
Ortiz's first homer in the series opener went an estimated 450 feet to right-center, clearing the brick wall that is past the right-field fence and landing on a standing-room-only concourse. It rivaled the Comerica Park-record blast of 461 feet off Carlos Pena's bat in 2005.
Ortiz's second homer was a majestic, 394-foot rainbow that cleared a tunnel past the right-field wall.
Brennan Boesch brought home Austin Jackson with a single in the first, giving him 17 RBIs in the first 17 games of his career and making it 5-1.
Detroit didn't do much again offensively until the seventh inning.
Brandon Inge and Gerald Laird walked, ending Buchholz's night, then Daniel Bard's first pitch hit Ramon Santiago to load the bases with one out. Bard got out of the jam by striking out Jackson and getting Johnny Damon to ground out to keep the five-run cushion.
Scherzer was solid after giving up five runs in the first — other than giving up Ortiz's second homer — but the damage was done in the pivotal inning.
Scherzer, who gave up three homers for the third time in his three-year career, has allowed 27 runs in his last four starts after allowing seven earned runs in his first four with the Tigers.
After Detroit's Brad Thomas threw three scoreless innings, pinch-hitter Bill Hall hit a solo homer in the ninth off Fu-Te Ni to make it 7-2.
Buchholz bounced back from two shaky starts in which he gave up 10 runs, but did give up five walks for the second straight outing.
Bard gave Detroit comeback hopes in the eighth inning, failing to attack the strike zone with a big lead. Magglio Ordonez hit a leadoff single, advanced on a wild pitch and Boesch's broken-bat comebacker that led to Bard jumping over the shard of wood and making a throwing error.
Brandon Inge's sacrifice fly pulled the Tigers within four runs and Scott Sizemore drew a two-out walk, then Boesch was thrown out at third after getting caught between bases on a pitch in the dirt.
NOTES: Detroit began the series with a baseball-best 12-4 record at home after winning three straight series against the defending champion New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels. ... Boston manager Terry Francona hopes to have Josh Beckett (sore back) and Mike Cameron (abdominal strain) healthy enough to play in the next series on the road against the Yankees. ... Detroit called up OF Casper Wells, optioned RHP Alfred Figaro to Triple-A Toledo and plan to send Wells back to the minors Sunday to clear a roster spot for RHP Armando Galarraga to start in the series finale.
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