Boston ? It was a tough day for Nomar Garciaparra even before the game started. His friend, Ted Williams, had died and now he had to go out and play baseball.

Batting in the No. 3 slot long occupied by Williams, he went 0-for-4. Playing shortstop in front of Williams’ retired No. 9 etched by a lawn mower in the left-field grass where the Hall of Famer played, he made an error in Detroit’s 9-5 win over Boston on Friday night.

Boston's Johnny Damon makes a sliding catch on a fly ball by Detroit's Ramon Santiago in the fifth inning of Friday's game. The Tigers beat the Red Sox, 9-5, at Fenway Park.

He and Williams discussed hitting. Williams would even call him in the clubhouse.

But Garciaparra didn’t blame the loss that ended the Red Sox five-game winning streak on a lack of focus after a pregame moment of silence, a trumpeter playing “Taps” and a short video of Williams playing. Williams died Friday morning in Florida of cardiac arrest at the age of 83.

“I’m not going to make excuses that it carried over to the game,” Garciaparra said. “It was just one of those games.”

The Red Sox, wearing black armbands on their right sleeves and patches with No. 9, committed three errors, allowed four unearned runs, struggled against Mark Redman (4-8) and allowed a career-high three RBIs to rookie Ramon Santiago.

“You can definitely feel the presence of what happened today,” said Frank Castillo (5-9). “You want to do well and, for some reason, in the sixth inning I screwed up and it just killed us.”

That’s when the Tigers broke a 2-2 tie with four runs on a two-run single by Santiago and RBI singles by Robert Fick and George Lombard. Santiago’s sacrifice fly in the eighth made it 7-3.

Redman allowed four runs and nine hits in eight innings and improved to 4-3 in his last seven decisions after going 0-5. He entered the game last in the majors in run support among starters with 2.88 runs per game.

“When I got the run support, I was able to go right after the hitters,” he said. “The guys played great behind me. That’s the first time all season I’ve had that combination.”

Detroit, 30-53 this season, is 4-2 in its last six ballgames and recorded its first win by more than one run since June 16 when it won 6-0 in Atlanta.

“We are executing better now. We are getting the guy over and we are getting the guy in,” Tigers manager Luis Pujols said.

Garciaparra led the AL in batting in 2000 at .372, the highest average by a Red Sox player since Williams hit .406 in 1941. And Garciaparra started the night 7-for-9 in his career against Redman.

All he managed Friday was an RBI groundout in the sixth after Johnny Damon tripled. That made it 6-3.

“I don’t think there was any distraction,” Lou Merloni, Garciaparra’s best friend on the team, said. “We just didn’t play well enough to win.”

Redman held the Red Sox scoreless through four innings.

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 3

New York Orlando Hernandez baffled the Blue Jays for six shutout innings to win his first start in nearly two months, and Bernie Williams homered for the first time since May.

Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer for New York, which stretched a winning streak to five for the fifth time this season and opened a two-game lead over Boston in the AL East matching a season high.

Toronto has lost six straight overall and eight in a row on the road. Raul Mondesi went 0-for-4 with one RBI in his first game against Toronto since the Blue Jays traded him to New York on Monday.

Hernandez (5-2) missed more than a month because of a strained upper back. Mariano Rivera got two outs for his 21st save in 23 chances. Esteban Loaiza (3-5) lost his fourth consecutive decision.

Indians 4, White Sox 2

Chicago Ellis Burks homered and Danys Baez pitched six strong innings as the Cleveland Indians snapped a five-game losing streak.

Matt Lawton hit a two-run single, and Ricky Gutierrez added a sacrifice fly for the Indians. Baez (7-6) allowed a run on four hits. He walked four one intentionally and struck out five, throwing 120 pitches.

Bob Wickman got three outs for his 19th save in 20 chances.

Jon Garland (7-6) did not get much support at the plate or in the field from the White Sox, who committed no errors but made several mental mistakes.

Twins 8, Mariners 4

Seattle Torii Hunter hit a tiebreaking grand slam to cap an eight-run seventh inning.

James Baldwin took a 4-0 lead into the seventh.

Eric Milton (10-6) retired the final 10 batters to get his first career victory in six decisions against Seattle despite giving up homer runs to Mike Cameron and John Olerud.

Cameron gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead in the third with a three-run shot and Olerud hit a solo homer in the fourth.

Angels 6, Devil Rays 5

Anaheim, Calif. David Eckstein drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded infield single in the 10th inning.

Scott Spiezio led off the 10th with a double against Estaban Yan (4-4), pitching his second inning of relief.

Pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro singled with one out, putting runners at the corners.

Jorge Fabregas walked to load the bases, and Eckstein followed with a grounder off the glove of diving third baseman Jared Sandberg with the infield in to score Spiezio.

Rangers 7, Orioles 6

Arlington, Texas Pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto had an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Alex Rodriguez blasted a two-run homer in the eighth.