Tigers vs Red Sox (7/6-7/8)

Game 1: Julian Tavarez put up his worst start of the season on Thursday night against the Detroit Tigers. Tavarez allowed 8 runs in 4.2 innings of work. He allowed homeruns to Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames before he was removed.

Andrew Miller started for Detroit and went 7 innings. Miller allowed 1 earned run and struck out 6 to earn the win.

Manny Delcarmen pitched another scoreless inning of relief for the Red Sox.

Game 2: David Ortiz staked the Red Sox to an early 2-run lead with homerun off of Jeremy Bonderman. Unfortunately, that was the only scoring the Red Sox would come by on Saturday evening.

Kason Gabbard was able to make the lead last until the 7th inning when he gave up the tying run. Craig Monroe ripped a 2-RBI double off of Gabbard to tie it.

The game would go into 13 innings with both bullpens doing a very good job. Delcarmen, Okajima, Timlin, and Lopez held the line for the Red Sox until Jonathan Papelbon took over in the bottom of the 13th.

Papelbon would end up taking his 2nd loss of the season thanks to a hit batsman and an RBI single with 2-outs just out of the reach of a diving Coco Crisp. The winning hit came off of the bat of Ivan Rodriguez.

Game 3: Sunday's game would turn out to be another close one for the Red Sox, but unfortunately they fell short in a 1-run game for the second consecutive day.

Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled with his control and allowed 5 runs and 3 homeruns to Detroit before being removed after 5 innings of work.

Gary Sheffield, Marcus Thames, and Carlos Guillen all homered for Detroit.

The Red Sox were able to stay in the game thanks to solo homeruns from Jeff Bailey and Julio Lugo. Lugo also had an RBI double on the day and was 3/3.

Todd Jones took a 1-run lead into the 9th inning and allowed a leadoff hit before retiring the next 2 batters. Varitek then singled and put the tying run on 3rd base before JD Drew fouled out to 3rd base to end the game.

The Red Sox end the first half with the best record in baseball and a 10 game lead on the New York Yankees for the American League East. Julio Lugo had a nice series against Detroit which will hopefully give him momentum for the 2nd half. Coco Crisp and Manny Delcarmen have also been playing very well lately.

On Deck: The homerun derby will be held on Monday night and the All Star Game will be held on Tuesday night. The game will feature 6 Red Sox (Papelbon, Beckett, Okajima, Lowell, Ramirez, and Ortiz). All teams will receive a day off on Wednesday. After the day off, the Red Sox will begin a series with the Toronto Blue Jays from Fenway Park. Julian Tavarez and Roy Halladay will square off in the opener.