Red Sox win third straight game

BOSTON - The trade deadline hits at 4 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, and folks around Boston and elsewhere have been wondering whether the Red Sox should be buyers or sellers.

Are they in the race for the postseason or out of it?

Well, the Sox, a last-place team that started the night four games out of a wild card spot, have their first three-game winning streak in over a month, climbing back over the .500 mark with a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in the opener of a three-game series Monday night.

Before the game, manager Bobby Valentine said, "I see more holes on other teams," a strong indication he wouldn't mind the Sox standing pat. After the game, the beleaguered manager said, "I made it clear right along I wouldn't be disappointed if that happened. I also went over to Ben's (general manager Cherington) office and I know that he's working as hard as anybody could work to see if there's anything out there that can improve our team even a little."

Boston's Ryan Sweeney was pulled off the field at the start of the ninth inning, leading to some speculation he had been traded. But what really happened, according to Sweeney, was he had punched a door after making an out in the eighth inning and will be going for X-rays. He probably will be placed on the disabled list.

"It's huge. I feel like I just let the team down," said Sweeney, who added it was the pinky knuckle he hurt but didn't know whether it was broken. "I feel terrible right now. Obviously when you hit something and you just have so much adrenaline going and you don't know what happened. So afterwards it just hurt a little bit."

Over on the Tiger side, manager Jim Leyland, whose team has lost four of its last five and five of its last seven, said before the game he wasn't expecting any moves at the deadline.

"I think a lot will happen around baseball, but I don't think it will be here (with the Tigers)," he said. "We made our deal. Our boss went out and gave us a pitcher (Anibal Sanchez) and a second baseman (Omar Infante), and we're going forward with it.

"Do I expect anything else to happen? I doubt it, but could (president and GM) Dave Dombrowski come in here 10 minutes after you leave and say, 'Hey, I made a trade'? Yeah, that could happen, but I don't expect it. We have a good team. We've got what we've got and I'm going forward like we're not going to get anything more."

As far as Monday's game, Dustin Pedroia snapped a 2-2 tie with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, and Clay Buchholz pitched eight innings to win his ninth game as Boston followed wins over the Yankees Saturday and Sunday with another victory.

Rookie Will Middlebrooks' 13th homer of the season broke the game open in the eighth.

Buchholz (9-3) gave up a home run (to Austin Jackson) and a double to start the game, got out of that jam and then got a double play to escape a base-loaded situation in the second.

"I thought he was spectacular," said Valentine. "Leaving the runner on base in the first inning and getting the ground ball double play with the bases loaded, it was cruising (for him) from that [point on].

Buchholz yielded five hits, only one after the third inning, for his first win in four starts, recording the first win by a Boston starter in 11 games. Vicente Padilla pitched the ninth. It was also his third straight strong game.

"Yeah I feel good," Buchholz said. "It's just I have a little bit of confidence and going out and throwing well just builds confidence and adds to what you already had, so it definitely feels good."

Pedroia, connecting for his third homer in the last five games (nine overall), hit his homer off losing pitcher Max Scherzer (10-6 after losing for the first time since June 23).

"Obviously the pitch to Pedroia, I completely missed my spot," Scherzer said. "That's what's frustrating is when you don't execute pitches the way you want to and you get burned by it. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

Pedroia's power surge is a sign he's finally over his right thumb problems.

"I feel good, feel good, just got to keep going," he said. "It's a long year, got a long way to go, so just concentrate on helping the team win ballgames."

NOTES: Red Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach ripped his second career triple, both coming this season, and scored on a Jacobdy Ellsbury single in the seventh. ... Even though his name has been floating around via trade rumors, Josh Beckett is expected to start for the Red Sox Tuesday night against Justin Verlander. ... David Ortiz (heel) is eligible to come off the Boston disabled list Wednesday but has yet to run on the field (he's running in a pool) and will not hit the Wednesday 15-day target. ... The Tigers are hitting just .223 in the first seven games of their nine-game road trip, going 2-5. "We've been a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde lately with our hitting," said Leyland. "We were swinging pretty good. We went to Cleveland and Toronto, did not swing the bats exceptionally well and we did not get much here tonight." ... Jackson's leadoff homer was his fourth of the season, the eighth of his career, and was the second straight homer by an opponent's leadoff hitter at Fenway Park. Toronto's Brent Lawrie did it, off Jon Lester, July 22.