BOSTON — One night after Diasuke Matsuzaka shut down the powerful Detroit Tiger bats, the Motor City’s ace hurler did the same to the Red Sox last night at Fenway Park.

The Tigers and Red Sox may have two of the premier offenses in baseball, but elite pitching has dominated the first two games of a series that may foreshadow a high-stakes showdown in the American League playoffs in October.

First, it was Matsuzaka who limited the Tigers to six hits and didn’t walk a batter in a superb effort in Monday night’s 7-1 Red Sox win.

Last night it was Justin Verlander’s turn. Last season’s A.L. Rookie of the Year overpowered the Sox through 7 2/3 innings, quieting Boston’s bats to the tune of two runs on six hits and earning the 7-2 win. Reliever Fernando Rodney made things interesting at times in the ninth but nailed down the win.

Verlander baffled the Sox with a battery of pitches that is on a par with any hurler in baseball. He owns a dominating fastball that tops out near 100 mph, can snap a curveball that buckles hitters’ knees and also freezes opponents with a puzzling changeup. Verlander said he had all three pitches working well as early as his bullpen session before the game.

Verlander has now won his last three starts and owns a 4-1 record. Asked if it was his best outing of the season, the 6-foot-5, 200-pounder said, “Yes, definitely. In this situation, coming into this park after losing the last two games, I look at this as my best so far.”

Verlander struck out seven Red Sox and never really was pushed outside of two innings. In the first, the Sox strung together three singles, with J.D. Drew’s driving in Kevin Youkilis for a 1-0 lead. But only one Boston base-runner (David Ortiz in the sixth) advanced past second base over the next sixth innings.

Verlander left the game after retiring the first two hitters in the eighth inning and watching Youkilis turn on a 95-mph heater and crush a homer to deep center field.

“As soon as he hit it I knew that it was gone,” he said. “I knew that was it for me. I pretty much knew if one batter got on that would be it for me because of my pitch count. It’s not the way I would’ve liked to go out.”

The Red Sox were more than happy to see Verlander leave. The Sox said they expected a strong effort from Verlander and he certainly delivered.

“You don’t see that kind of pitching every day,” said Ortiz. “He comes on and throws 96, 97, like it’s nothing. When he’s on he can get to 100. And he has that changeup and breaking ball. He threw strikes. What makes him good is he changes speed.”

“He was throwing that fastball that came close to 100 mph,” said Boston manager Terry Francona. “He features some of the best stuff in the league. I don’t think he walked anybody. He has really good stuff.”

Verlander is proving he’s no one-year wonder. As a rookie in 2006, the one-time second overall draft pick in the country burst on the scene and went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA. He won seven straight games between mid-June and Aug. 1 last year and went on to tie for fourth in the A.L. in wins. Combining with Jeremy Bonderman, Verlander led the Tigers into the American League playoffs for the first time in 19 years.

He went on to start in the A.L. Division Series win over the Yankees and was the winning pitcher in Game Two of the ALCS against Oakland. The World Series was a disaster, however, as he lost two games (10 runs, 11 IP) in the stunning loss to St. Louis.

Now Detroit is hoping Verlander, Bonderman and a powerful lineup featuring Magglio Ordonez (three-run homer off loser Tim Wakefield last night), Carlos Guillen and leadoff man Curtis Granderson can fire the Tigers back into the postseason in the fall.

If so, Verlander just may be pitching again at Fenway under very different circumstances than last night’s.

“That is one of the best teams in baseball,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of the Red Sox, “but hopefully they’re feeling the same way about us.”

Verlander said he wasn’t focusing on Ortiz, Manny Ramirez or any of the other big sticks in Boston’s powerful lineup. Instead, he worked on firing his fastball to unreachable speeds and snapping his breaking ball at the right time.

“I was trying to take the ballpark, the players and everything out of it and just pitch my game and not think about who was hitting or who was next. Really just make the pitches to every batter,” Verlander said.

After watching Matsuzaka one night before, Verlander was more than ready to take the mound. He said he enjoys filling the ace role for Detroit, and though the Tigers have a few other elite pitchers, no one else owns the weapons that this second-year pro brings to the mound.

“I didn’t feel pressure to match him,” Verlander said. “I just wanted to get our team a ‘W’ after having lost the last two. I wanted to come out here and give our team a chance.”

kmcnamar@projo.com