Red Sox Grab Win Over the Tigers, Blue Jays Extend Win Streak to Nine

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox‘s  (45-31) Shane Victorino stole the show in the 10-6 win over the Detroit Tigers (40-32) as he was for 4 for 5 with a career-tying five RBIs.

Shane Victorino

This included a home run and three singles. Victorino said of his performance via The Associated Press, “I didn’t even know what my career high was. It’s great. Any time you get four hits and five RBIs — for a guy like me — you always get excited for it.”

Red Sox lefty Jon Lester (7-4) was the winning pitcher–a first in his last seven starts. In 5 2/3 innings, he allowed nine hits, five runs, three walks and three strikeouts.

Boston led 6-1 in the fifth inning but the Tigers’ bats got hot. Andy Dirks hit a homer, followed by Miguel Cabera’s three-run homer to make it a 6-5 game but between the Red Sox’s bullpen (holding the Tigers to one run) and its hitting, the home team couldn’t get it done.

Tigers righty Doug Fister (6-5) didn’t have a good outing in his 3 1/3 innings of pitching as he allowed six runs with 11 hits.

With the win and the Baltimore Orioles (42-32) loss, the Red Sox sit at the top of the American League East division by two games. But things may get tougher for them as they’ll face Tiger pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in the last two games of this series.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Boston righty Allen Webster (0-1) will face the Tigers righty Scherzer (10-0). Detroit gets the win (-183, 9 o/u).

In other Tigers pitching news, the team designated reliever righty Jose Valverde, 35, for assignment on Friday. This came after Detroit brought him up to the majors and gave him an an opportunity as a closer.

In 12 opportunities, Valverde was 0-1 (5.59 ERA); he converted nine saves, according to ESPN. The team now has 10 days to do something with him.

Meanwhile, the team may utilize Joaquin Benoit  for saves but they also brought up righty Al Alburquerque from Triple-A Toledo as a bullpen replacement for Valverde.

Blue Jays Grab Ninth Straight Win

After a slow start to the season, everything seems to be going right for the Toronto Blue Jays (36-30) as they won their ninth straight game with a 7-6 victory over the Orioles on Friday.

Munenori Kawasaki

Toronto’s Munenori Kawasaki’s two-run homer (a career first) in the seventh inning enabled the team to tie the game but the single by Rajai Davis in the ninth got the team the win.

Kawasaki said of the game via MLB.com, “I didn’t expect to hit the home run at the time. Like a dream. I was dreaming. [In] my head is just nothing.”

For the player, he’s been pinch hitting for short stop Jose Reyes, who hasn’t played since April 13 thanks to a sprained left ankle. But this could be ending soon as Reyes is making his way back by playing with Triple-A Buffalo; he could return on Monday to the big leagues.

With this, Kawasaki who has endeared himself with Toronto fans, could be returning to the Minors.

As for the Orioles on Friday, they weren’t without their own home runs for the game as Chris Davis hit No. 27 (leading the majors) and J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty also had one.

With the win, the Blue Jays have hit .500–a first since July 30, 2012. They have won their last 13 of 16 games and since May 2, they’ve gone 26-15 when they sat at a season low of 10-21, according to ESPN.

But they do sit seven games behind the Red Sox.

This series continues on Saturday with righty Miguel Gonzalez (5-2) taking the mound for the Orioles while righty Chien-Ming Wang (1-0) has pitching duty for Toronto.

Looks like the win streak could be snapped as the Orioles get the win (-113, 9.5 o/u).