The Detroit Tigers made things interesting in the eighth inning, but went on to beat the Red Sox.
Lefty Justin Wilson allowed three straight singles to load the bases with none out in the bottom of the eighth and the Tigers leading, 4-1.
Bryce Brentz pinch hit for lefty Travis Shaw and struck out swinging. But Sandy Leon hit an RBI single to make it 4-2.
Wilson struck out Brock Holt looking at a curveball. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, who has said he preferred not to use closer Francisco Rodriguez in a four-out save situation, brought K-Rod in to face Mookie Betts. And Betts grounded into a force.
“I’ve said it before, I don’t like to use him,” in that situation, Ausmus said. “I wouldn’t do it a ton. There will be games where I think it’s more important to use him than others and this was one of ‘em.”
The Tigers snapped a two-game losing skid with a 4-2 win Monday night at Fenway Park.
Justin Verlander and Jose Iglesias came through in a big way. So did Justin Upton and James McCann.
After a triple by Upton, McCann broke out of a 1-for-23 slump with an RBI single to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead in the seventh. Iglesias hit a two-run home run in the sixth for the Tigers and scored another run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Victor Martinez.
Verlander turned in another stellar performance, allowing one run on five hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out five. Over his last four starts, Verlander has allowed six runs (five earned) with 29 strikeouts over 26 2/3 innings
Verlander had runners on first and second with one out in the third with the heart of the lineup coming up for the Red Sox. Xander Bogaerts flied out to center and David Ortiz flied out to right.
Verlander had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. He got Shaw to strike out swinging on a 97 mph fastball on his 110th and final pitch of the night.
The one run Verlander didn’t allow shouldn’t have scored.
Verlander appeared poised to get out of the inning. With two outs, Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a grounder toward second base. The ball ricocheted off the bag on what was ruled a base hit. Travis Shaw followed with an RBI double. The Red Sox had two on and two out in the seventh against Shane Greene, but Bogaerts popped up to Iglesias to end the threat. Former Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski, now the president of baseball operations for the Red Sox, said before the game it didn’t surprise him that Verlander has come back to have a good season after his past injury problems. It was Dombrowski who signed Verlander to a seven-year, $180mn contract extension in 2013.
“He’s a competitor and we always thought at the time that he would learn to even make adjustments as he got older,” Dombrowski said. “And now his velocity has picked back up.
“It may not be as good as it was at one time, but hardly anybody’s is. It doesn’t surprise me he’s still a quality pitcher.”
Iglesias, who came to the Tigers as part of a three-way trade with the White Sox and Red Sox in 2013, erased the 1-0 deficit with a two-run home run to left.
Iglesias has homered off Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Adam Conley and Drew Pomeranz this season. Pomeranz, a lefty, allowed two runs on four hits over six innings for the Red Sox. He walked two and struck out seven.
Iglesias added a single in the eighth, advanced to second on a passed ball and went to third when Miguel Cabrera flied out to right. Iglesias came home on a single to right by Martinez.

RESULTS
Toronto ...........4 San Diego ............2
Detroit .............4 Boston ..................2
Philadelphia .4 Miami ....................0
Milwaukee .....7 Arizona .................2
Texas ................7. Oakland ...............6
White Sox ......5 Chicago Cubs ....4
NY Yankees ..2 Houston................. 1
LA Angels..... 6 Kansas City ..........2
Cincinnati .....7 San Francisco .....5