Tigers get on board

X-rays were negative, and the club is calling it a sprain. But Lowell, who strained ligaments in the same thumb last June, said the injury he sustained diving for Ivan Rodriguez's ground ball on the first play of the game flared up on him much more quickly than last year's.

"This feels like it got swollen immediately," said Lowell, who lasted one more inning before giving way to pinch hitter Sean Casey in the second, Casey remaining in the game to play first while Kevin Youkilis moved across the diamond to third.

"I don't know if that's good or bad," Lowell added. "I definitely would not like to go on the disabled list. Tomorrow is a day that's going to let me know a lot more. I'm hoping for the best."

Casey, making his Fenway debut as a member of the Sox, singled as Boston scored twice to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning, abetted by the second error in two days by Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco after he'd gone 186 games without a bobble, a big league record at his position.

But the Tigers, who came into last night's game having produced fewer runs than any team in the majors, finally broke through against lefthander Jon Lester, with former Sox shortstop Edgar Renteria hitting a two-run double and Marcus Thames following with a two-run home run in the fourth, then added three late runs against the bullpen to become the last team in the majors to win this season.

"They're going to hit," Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski had predicted of a team that scored just 15 runs in its first seven games and was batting .140 (7 for 50) with runners in scoring position. "If they don't, I haven't been more wrong about anything in my entire life."

Brandon Inge hit a two-run single in the eighth off Bryan Corey, who was knocked around for four runs in a third of an inning in his last outing in Toronto and once again is teetering on losing a roster spot with Mike Timlin expected to come off the DL tomorrow night against the Yankees.