Verlander dazzles Sox

An inning later, the Red Sox quietly concluded a 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers, snapping their three-game winning streak as they head into a showdown in Texas against the Rangers, whom they lead by a half-game in the wild-card standings.

In the Red Sox dugout, Clay Buchholz could only shake his head and smile. For the second straight game, he had pitched well enough for the Sox to feel encouraged about his place in the rotation. He lasted seven innings and allowed two runs, dealing all four of his pitches. He made one mistake all day, a two-seam fastball Ryan Raburn crushed over the Green Monster in the seventh.

“That’s the only pitch I can look back on and say, ‘I messed up right there,’ ’’ Buchholz said.

But, for the second straight game, Buchholz walked off the mound one-upped by an elite counterpart. Last Saturday, CC Sabathia no-hit the Red Sox for 5 2/3 innings while Buchholz grinded to allow the Yankees two runs over six innings. The Sox haven’t scored a run in Buchholz’s last two starts.

“I’m picking the wrong pitchers to throw against,’’ Buchholz said.

Verlander pitched the eighth with raw power, attacking the Red Sox with a pitcher’s equivalent of a caveman’s club. Verlander threw 18 pitches in his final inning. All of them were four-seam fastballs. Their speeds, in succession, were as follows: 94, 95, 95, 95, 95, 97, 97, 98, 98, 98, 98, 97, 98, 99, 99, 99, 100, 100.

“That’s a horse,’’ Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s exactly what we needed.’’

The crowd still stood with two outs in the eighth, when Ellsbury stood on second and to the plate walked Bay, who had hit home runs in three consecutive games. Verlander knew Bay was going to be the last batter he faced.

“I’m not going to let them tie the game,’’ Verlander said. “I gave them everything I had. I wasn’t holding anything back.’’

Verlander fired five pitches at Bay. None traveled slower than 99.

“I challenge anybody to find somebody with better stuff than him,’’ Bay said.

Afterward, reliever Daniel Bard and shortstop Chris Woodward spoke, two men who don’t know each other well brought together by their common awe. Bard has touched 100 on the radar gun before, but never in the manner of Verlander.