In a day full of firsts, the Tigers take down the Red Sox 5-1

In a 5-1 win over the Red Sox, It was a day full of firsts at Comerica Park.

The Tigers became the first team since 1995 to win 4 straight series at home against reigning playoff teams (Twins, Angels, Yankees and Red Sox). 

2nd baseman Danny Worth, called up after last night's 12 inning marathon, was given his first major league start by Jim Leyland. With the bases loaded in the 2nd, Worth got both a hit and RBI in his first big league at bat. The swinging bunt went all of 85 feet, and Red Sox starter John Lackey had to miss the bag on the toss from (Rick Porcello's mortal enemy) Kevin Youkilis, but a hit is a hit!

Ramon Santiago clubbed his first home run of the season, a 2 run shot in the 4th inning, giving the Tigers their final margin of victory.

Don Kelly (who also chipped in with 2 hits) stole his first base of the season. The Tigers had 2 steals on the day, surprising for a team not known for speed on the basepaths.

In his first start of the season, Armando Galarraga got off to a rough start in the 1st inning, walking 2 of the first 3 batters. I was expecting the worst, but Galarraga settled down, getting out of the inning unscathed and unscored upon. He proceeded to toss 5.2 quite effective innings, giving up only 1 run and 3 hits, earning his first win of 2010. A nice return to his 2008 form for Galarraga.

With the bullpen stretched past far, Far, FAR past it's limit over the past 2 games, throwing 12.1 innings (tack on another 3.1 after today), Jeremy Bonderman made his first appearance in relief this season. He ended a 2 on, 2 out Red Sox threat in the 6th by getting Mike Lowell to pop out. Bonderman left the game after getting the first 2 outs of the 7th, earning his first hold of the season in the process. Bondo is still scheduled to take his regular rotation turn Wednesday against the A's.

With Worth in the lineup, the Tigers have 5 players who made their big league debuts this season (Worth, Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch, Scott Sizemore, Casper Wells). It's the earliest the franchise has used that many first-time players since 5 new Tigers played in the first 5 games of 1922.

As I said, it was a day full of firsts...

Not firsts, but worthy of note:

Magglio Ordonez continues to rake, 2 hits raised his BA to .312. He's upped his BA 36 points since Wednesday.

The Boesch Bus continues to roll, as the white hot rookie's 3rd inning single stretched his hitting streak to 7 games. Just how hot has Brennan Boesch been? He's gotten a base hit in 13 of his last 14 games, and in 16 of 19.

The bottom 4 in today's batting order were Brandon Inge, Kelly, Alex Avila and Worth. At .229 going into the day, Inge's was the highest average of the 4 players. Admittedly, they combined for 3 hits, 2 RBI and a run scored, but today was the exception to the rule. I'm not sure how long the Tigers can continue to live with next to no offensive production from the bottom of the order...which is a big reason why Jim Leyland is desperate to get Carlos Guillen's bat in the lineup as the 2nd baseman.

Currently 5-2 on the homestand, the Tigers have 2 games against the White Sox before leaving town for another west coast swing. Ugh. Just...ugh. They'll have their first interleague series of the year, as the Tigers face the 3rd palce in the NL West Dodgers next weekend.

Here's hoping the Tigers finish the homestand on an up note, before we all get grumpy from a lack of sleep over the coming week.