BOSTON -- There is a reason why the Detroit Tigers own the best record in the American League and all of baseball right now. Actually there are plenty of them.

In their first and only trip to Fenway Park this season, the Tigers have shown the Red Sox and their fans that they, indeed, are for real.

First, Detroit's bats ripped into Josh Beckett and paved the way to a 7-4 win on Monday night.

Last night, the Tigers' bats were tamed by Curt Schilling but this time it was some strong pitching, excellent defense and a little timely hitting that combined to give Detroit a 3-2 victory. The win improves the Tigers' record to 78-41.

The Red Sox, who lost for the seventh time in 10 games and fell three games behind New York in the A.L. East standings, were simply outplayed last night in all three phases of the game. On a night when the Sox needed Schilling to get the job done, he was out-gunned by the Tigers' Jeremy Bonderman, who limited the Sox to two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings and drew praise from all corners.

"If I start a team with some good, young pitchers, he's on my list," said Schilling. "Tonight was a case where the kid out-pitched me."

"He's tough. He's as tough as they come," said Tiger manager Jim Leyland. "When you're facing Curt Schilling and those guys, the one thing you have to do is pitch good against them or you've got no chance. Bonderman pitched good, very good."

The Tigers' bullpen overcame a slight hiccup and nailed down the win. Leyland lifted Bonderman with the tying run on second base in the eighth inning. With lefty-hitting David Ortiz due up, Leyland went to Wilfredo Ledezma. With first base open, Leyland chose not to walk Ortiz and it was actually easy to see why. Ledezma had allowed only one earned run in his last 11 innings, a span of five outings.

"He's been throwing extremely well," said Leyland. "If he made his pitch, I think he could get him out. I'm just happy we kept the ball in the ballpark."

Ortiz worked the count to 2-2 and then lined a clean single to right that easily scored Coco Crisp and tied to score, 2-2. Leyland lifted Ledezma in favor of Fernando Rodney and he came through, getting Manny Ramirez to ground out and end the inning.

Schilling clung to a 1-0 lead for six innings before Sean Casey lined a hanging splitter up the right-center gap for a two-run double in the seventh. He left the game after seven strong innings (2 runs, 9 hits) but the Sox couldn't keep the Tigers down.

Mike Timlin threw a perfect eighth inning but stumbled in the ninth. His first mistake came when he walked Carlos Guillen to lead off the inning.

Then he left a pitch out over the plate that Sean Casey grounded into the hole between first and second and gave Guillen an easy path to third.

With runners at the corners and only one out, Craig Monroe flied down the right-field line. Wily Mo Pena ran hard to the line and had a bead on the ball but it grazed off his glove for a hit and Guillen walked home with the go-ahead run.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said that Pena faced a tough play on the ball. "Actually it was a little bit of everything," he said. "I knew he saw the stands coming, knew he needed to catch it and get rid of it. I mean, I know they are going to send Guillen. [Pena] just tried to probably do it a little too quick."

With a 3-2 lead, Leyland summoned closer Todd Jones to shut the door in the ninth and the veteran coolly responded. He ended the game by getting Pena to strike out looking.

"We think we have a nice [pitching] staff, period," Leyland said. "We think we're deep, one to twelve. I think that's important. We don't have any mop-up guys. They've all done a pretty good job."

Defensively, the Tigers rate among baseball's best. When they needed a great defensive play last night, they got one.

The moment came in the seventh with Bonderman protecting a 2-1 lead. Pena smashed a two-out double off the Wall in left. Doug Mirabelli followed and he fisted a pitch to short center.

Second baseman Placido Polanco raced into the outfield, kept track of the ball the whole way and made a great, over-the-shoulder diving catch. He quickly clutched his left shoulder and had to leave the game with a separated shoulder that may sideline him for the next 4-6 weeks.

"I'm a true believer in defense," Polanco said. "You're not going to hit every day but being a good defensive team can win you a lot of games. That and pitching, of course. We have those two things, for sure."

kmcnamar@projo.com / (401) 277-7340