Brandon Workman, who helped the Red Sox wiggle out of further trouble in the sixth inning, returned to the mound in the seventh. With his fastball working in the mid-90s, Workman took care of leadoff man Omar Infante on six pitches, before Austin Jackson followed with a one-out single scalded up the middle.
Jackson didn't last long, though; Workman caught the youngster leaning too far and picked him off first base. Jose Iglesias, who was at the plate when Jackson was picked off, followed through with a single that deflected off of Workman to Dustin Pedroia, and Torii Hunter also reached base on an error by Workman, advancing Iglesias to second base.
Red Sox manager John Farrell then pulled Workman to bring in Junichi Tazawa to face Miguel Cabrera. Tazawa used a pair of 94 mph fastballs to take care of the slugger, who was robbed of a single thanks to a diving stop by Stephen Drew. Drew snagged the ball and threw on to first base to end the threat.
Max Scherzer, closing in on 100 pitches, toed the rubber again in the bottom of the seventh, and Jonny Gomes gave Scherzer his second major scare of the game, missing a home run by inches off the top of the Green Monster.
Let's take a closer look:
No homer; Gomes had a leadoff double. Scherzer battled back to get Drew swinging through a 94 mph fastball for the first out of the inning and the righty's eighth strikeout of the evening.
Xander Bogaerts, who doubled in his previous at-bat, worked a walk to put runners on first and second. Tigers manager Jim Leyland pulled Scherzer, who had 110 pitches, to bring in southpaw Drew Smyly to face Jacoby Ellsbury. Smyly got the ground ball he was looking for, but Jose Iglesias couldn't hold onto the ball, allowing the runners to advance and loading the bases for Shane Victorino. Leyland, playing the matchups, yanked Smyly to bring in right-hander Jose Veras.
Veras didn't get the job done. Victorino smashed an 0-2 curveball over the Green Monster for a grand slam, giving the Red Sox a 5-2 lead.
Dustin Pedroia then struck out against Veras, before Phil Coke came in to get a David Ortiz groundout.
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