Red Sox-Tigers Preview

5/8/2008 1:19 AM

By MIKE VOTTA
STATS Senior Writer

Despite a rocky start to the season, Detroit's Justin Verlander is remaining upbeat.

He'll be trying to avoid his second three-start losing streak of the season on Thursday when the Tigers wrap up a four-game series with the Boston Red Sox at Comerica Park.

Verlander (1-5, 6.28 ERA) is tied for the second-most losses in the majors. He retired the first 10 batters and lasted seven innings on Saturday, but gave up four runs in a 4-1 loss in Minnesota.

"Overall, he pitched very well, gave us an excellent chance to win," manager Jim Leyland said. "But, our offense just sputtered again."

Verlander went 35-15 in 2006 and 2007 in his first two full seasons in the majors, but has allowed at least four runs in all but one of his seven starts in 2008. Still, Verlander, 1-1 with a 4.61 ERA in his two previous starts against the Red Sox, is confident he can turn things around.

"I sound like a broken record right now, but I have the utmost faith in myself and my team," Verlander told the Tigers' official team Web site. "I know that things will turn around. There's no if. It's when."

The Tigers (15-20) ended a five-game losing streak on Wednesday, beating Boston 10-9. Detroit squandered an 8-4 lead, but Placido Polanco hit a broken-bat, tiebreaking single with two outs in the ninth off Jonathan Papelbon.

"It tells you a lot about our team," Polanco said. "We had some really tough at-bats against Papelbon to make something happen."

Detroit, which opened the season 0-7 after spending the offseason upgrading its already imposing lineup, had a season-high 18 hits on Wednesday, the most Boston has allowed this year. Gary Sheffield had a season-best three hits, improving his average from .176 to .202, and picked up his 1,582nd career RBI to pull within one of former Tiger and Hall of Famer Al Kaline for 35th on the all-time list.

"I don't believe in momentum, but if we go on and do good, we might look back and say that was a big win," Leyland said.

The Red Sox (22-14), meanwhile, had their five-game winning streak snapped. Kevin Youkilis homered twice and now has seven career homers at Comerica Park - five more than he has at any stadium as a visitor.

Mike Lowell chipped in a three-run homer, but Papelbon blew his first save in 11 chances.

"We had a great comeback and we couldn't finish it," manager Terry Francona said.

The Red Sox are hoping that ace Josh Beckett (3-2, 4.19) can help them rebound in the series finale.

Beckett went eight innings in his last start on Saturday, allowing four runs in a 12-4 win over Tampa Bay. He has gone at least seven innings in each of his last three starts and has won three of his last four.

Beckett struggled in his only previous outing against the Tigers, allowing five runs in six innings of a 7-4 loss on Aug. 14, 2006 at Fenway Park.