DETROIT - Victor Martinez pulled a couple of line drives foul, and it was clear he was having little trouble making good contact against Junichi Tazawa.
Moments later, Martinez connected again. This time the ball stayed fair and sailed far beyond the wall in right field.
"You want to square the ball up every time you're going to the plate," Martinez said. "At some point, you definitely want results."
Martinez hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Detroit Tigers held off David Ortiz and the Red Sox after that, beating Boston 7-6 on Saturday night. Ortiz had three hits, including a home run in the sixth.
Ortiz's two-run single in the seventh gave Boston a 6-5 lead, but Martinez answered with a long drive down the line off Tazawa (2-5).
"Left-handers have been getting very good swings off him in the last few outings and that's what happened again tonight," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "He left a 2-2 splitter up in the middle of the zone, and Victor crushed it."