Detroit’s Placido Polanco scoops the ball but later drops it, allowing the Sox to tie the game in the sixth inning last night.

The providence journal / Kris Craig Kris Craig

BOSTON — You can push his starts up or back. You can tell him he’s pitching morning, noon or night. Julian Tavarez assures you he will be ready.

“I grew up playing ball,” the right-hander, who hails from the Dominican Republic, said after pitching the Sox to a 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers yesterday at Fenway. “I never went to school in my life, not even one day. The only thing I did was play ball in the street, and that’s the only thing I know how to do. To me, everything is mental. My mind is always ready for anything. To me, nothing bothers me. I’m always, like, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready to play.’ It doesn’t matter if it’s 3 in the morning. Let’s start the game … If you think, ‘It’s only three days rest. I’m not strong enough to go out there, just don’t go out and pitch because you’re not going to last long on the mound. To me, it’s, like, ‘I’m ready.’ I’m fine, no pain in my body. I’m fine. I’m going to go out there and give it my best.”

His start pushed back a day because of Wednesday’s rain, Tavarez worked a season-high seven innings, giving up one run on four hits, walking four and striking out three.

After throwing fewer than 100 pitches in each of his previous 12 starts, he tossed 104 pitches yesterday — his most since throwing 106 in a start on Aug. 30, 2002, against Pittsburgh when he was with Florida.

Tavarez was quick to give credit to batterymate Doug Mirabelli for his successful outing.

``Mirabelli is one of the reasons why I was so effective today,” said Tavarez, who turns 34 on Tuesday. ``He came to me (Wednesday night) and told me, ‘Remember last year, what we did in Toronto. We attacked hitters. We worked really fast. I want you to do the same thing tomorrow. Challenge those guys with a lot of sinking fastballs. Get a quick out, less pitches, and you’ll be effective.’ Mirabelli was a big part of it today.”

Papelbon gets a save

Jonathan Papelbon finally had a save opportunity, and the flame-throwing right-hander shook of any rust he might have had and blazed his way through the Tigers in preserving Julian Tavarez’s 2-1 victory in the first game of yesterday’s day-nighter.

Papelbon, whose last had a save opportunity May 6 in Minnesota, which he converted, blew away the first two Tigers, Carlos Guillen and Pudge Rodriguez, on 94-mph heaters. He retired Sean Casey on a grounder to short, wrapping up his 11th save in 12 chances.

“You get anxious to get back out there in a situation like that when one pitch can mean a difference in going to extra innings or losing the game,” said Papelbon of his inactivity, which was broken only by an inning in a blowout win over Baltimore last Saturday.

“I warmed up a little more than I normally would to make sure I was ready to pitch. I was able to stay focused and not rush through my delivery, but I was definitely anxious to be out there,” he said.

Hansack in for Beckett

With Josh Beckett unable to make his ninth start of the season tonight due to an injured middle finger on his throwing hand, the Red Sox have recalled Devern Hansack from Pawtucket to make the start against the Atlanta Braves.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is slated to go against Atlanta tomorrow, but Sunday’s starter against the Braves remains TBA, as Terry Francona said he planned to give Tim Wakefield an extra day.

The changes to the rotation could allow the Red Sox to throw Wakefield, Curt Schilling and Beckett against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium starting Monday and also when New York comes to Fenway Park for a three-game series June 1.

Okajima strong in relief

Speaking of the bullpen, lefty reliever Hideki Okajima continues to impress no matter the situation. The southpaw worked a perfect eighth inning during the afternoon portion of the double-dip with one strikeout before Papelbon earned his 11th save.

In so doing, Okajima extended his scoreless streak to 18 2/3 innings over his last 18 outings. Recording nearly half of his 45 outs with strikeouts, he has retired 53 of the last 62 batters he has faced and boasts an ERA of 0.46.

So far this season, it doesn’t matter whether Okajima is facing a righty or lefty because he’s been so elusive. That may change a bit when teams see him again and get a better scouting report on the Japanese import. But for now, he’s been very effective.

Drew gets some rest

Francona decided to sit J.D. Drew for yesterday’s opener to give him more time to recover after slamming into the wall in front of the Sox bullpen while tracking a ball Tuesday. The Sox skipper said he was considering playing the outfielder in the nightcap, but apparently didn’t like what he saw when Drew went down to the cage to loosen up and decided to keep Eric Hinske in right.

Wily Mo Pena played left field, so that Manny Ramirez could take David Ortiz’ place in the DH spot because Ortiz was feeling ill.

“(Ortiz) probably shouldn’t have played today,” Francona said. “He was sick and he said, `I was this close to calling you this morning, but I know it’s a double header.’ So we’re going to let him kind of gather himself a little bit here later today.”

Youkilis, Lowell streaks

With his single to left in the first inning of last night’s game, Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. . . . With his sixth-inning single in Game One, Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to eight games. Lowell has had at least one hit in 32 of his 38 games.

jmcdonal@projo.com