BOSTON — Scoring runs isn’t so tough after all.
The Red Sox needed just the first 10 pitches to take a two-run lead Monday night after scoring just twice in their previous three games.
“No one cares that we didn’t score for, I don’t even know how long it was, 34 innings or whatever the heck it was,” Dustin Pedroia said after a 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers stopped Boston’s season-worst six-game losing streak. “There’s a lot of numbers to this game and that can mess you up, so we’re just out playing and trying to have fun.”
The Red Sox didn’t have much fun in the last three games of a 3-6 road trip.
They didn’t score for the first 31 innings of those three games. Then, after Victor Martinez broke that streak with a two-run homer that gave them a 2-1 lead in the eighth, the New York Yankees rallied to win 5-2 Sunday night.
Boston squandered another lead Monday, going from 4-0 to 5-5, before Nick Green hit a sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run in the seventh.
“It’s definitely a sense of relief,” Green said. “We’ve been on such a roller coaster the last week.”
Pedroia’s ninth homer of the year followed Jacoby Ellsbury’s leadoff double in the first. Green hit his sixth homer in a two-run second that made it 4-0. Jason Bay added another solo shot, his 22nd homer, giving Boston a 5-3 lead in the fifth.
Detroit tied it in the seventh on Placido Polanco’s RBI single and Marcus Thames’ run-scoring double. Ramon Ramirez (6-3) got in trouble in the eighth before Jonathan Papelbon got the last four outs for his 28th save in 31 opportunities.
Zach Miner (5-2) took the loss and starter Edwin Jackson remained winless in Fenway Park (0-4) despite having an outstanding season.
“They’ve been struggling a bit offensively,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “I think they just obviously made up their mind, ”˜Hey, he’s going to be aggressive, we’re going to be aggressive with him.”’
In their previous three games, the Red Sox totaled just two runs and 17 hits — 16 singles and a homer.
Boston moved within 5 1/2 games of the AL East leading Yankees, who lost to Toronto on Monday, and moved 1/2 game ahead of idle Texas in the wild-card race.
“We desperately needed to find a way to win a game,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, “and we did.” Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4
At New York, Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill hit solo homers and Toronto snapped the Yankees’ seven-game winning streak.
Shawn Camp (1-5) picked up the win in relief of ineffective starter Marc Rzepczynski, who allowed three homers and didn’t make it out of the fourth. The Blue Jays’ bullpen allowed four hits over 5 2-3 shutout innings, helping Toronto win for just the third time in 10 tries against the Yankees this season.
Jason Frasor worked the ninth for his fifth save.
Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Jerry Hairston homered for the Yankees.
Angels 8, Rays 7
At Anaheim, Calif., Vladimir Guerrero homered twice, including the 400th of his career to put the Angels ahead in the seventh inning, and Kendry Morales also hit two homers for Los Angeles.
Guerrero extended his hitting streak to a season-best 12 games a week after coming off the disabled list. He is one of seven active major leaguers with 400 homers and 2,000 hits.
Jason Bartlett, who fell a single shy of the cycle, and Carlos Pena homered for Tampa Bay.
Kevin Jepsen (4-3) earned the victory, giving up one hit in two innings with two strikeouts and one walk.
Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth for his 32nd save.
Athletics 9, Orioles 1
At Baltimore, rookie Gio Gonzalez took a five-hit shutout into the seventh inning, and Mark Ellis had a career-high five hits and four RBIs as Oakland won its ninth straight over the Orioles.
After giving up two hits to start the seventh, Gonzalez (4-2) was pulled following a rain delay of 52 minutes. When play resumed, Craig Breslow got three straight outs to strand both runners in scoring position.
Jeremy Guthrie (7-12) allowed five runs and a season-high 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings and took over the AL lead in losses.
Mariners 6, White Sox 4
At Seattle, Kenji Johjima hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, his first home run for the Mariners since May 25.
Johjima has played in only 17 games since July 5 with Seattle choosing to have its established starting pitchers work with young catcher Rob Johnson.
Reliever Sean White (3-2) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings. David Aardsma earned his 27th save and Seattle won its fifth in seven games.
Gavin Floyd (9-7) allowed seven hits and five runs in 5 2-3 innings, losing for only the second time since May 27.
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