Tigers stop Sox

Old friend Renteria lifts Detroit to win

Tigers 7, Red Sox 2

MLB. The law of averages finally evened out last night.

The Red Sox couldn’t overcome a wild fourth inning authored by young lefty Jon Lester, and an assortment of Tigers pitchers managed to limit Boston’s offense to two runs in a 7-2 loss at the Fens.

The defeat again dropped the Sox under the .500 mark for the season, and handed the formerly winless Tigers their first victory of the season after an 0-7 start.

Lester was cruising along through the first three innings, and looked like the potential 15-18 game winner the Red Sox envision him to be, but his intermittent control problems flared up again in the fourth.

Staked to a two-run lead, Lester walked Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen with one out in the fourth inning, and then paid the usual price. Old friend Edgar Renteria popped a two-run double to tie the game, and Marcus Thames followed with a two-run bomb to left that gave the Tigers a two-run advantage.

Lester’s night was done after 5 1/3 innings of work and 92 pitches, and the losing outing represented the first time in 29 Major League appearances the youngster didn’t strike out a single batter. The erratic lefty also finished with four walks, including the two bases on balls that eventually led directly to Detroit runs in the fourth.

The Sox struck for their two runs in the bottom of the second inning when rookie centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury worked a bases- loaded walk. Julio Lugo followed by rifling an RBI single that scored J.D. Drew and gave the Sox a short-lived 2-0 advantage.

Tigers right-hander Jeremy Bonderman was workmanlike on the mound and managed to gut out five innings while venturing through the Sox lineup. Bonderman then passed the two-run lead off to the much-maligned Tigers bullpen. On this night, the Tigers relievers were up to the task as Bobby Seay, Francis Beltran, Denny Bautista and Todd Jones closed the Sox down.