The Detroit Rockets came out hot against Boston’s Pedro Martinez, scoring two runs in the 1st on back-to-back RBI doubles from Dick Allen and Adrián Beltré, but Frank Thomas and Mickey Mantle hit back-to-back homers against Frank Tanana in the bottom of the inning to put the Splinters back on top. Both starters settled down, with Martinez retiring the last 14 batters he faced before running out of gas. Dennis Eckersley’s struggles continued, and he couldn’t hold the lead, serving up a 2-run homer to Bill Freehan in the 7th to allow Detroit to take the lead. The Rockets added another run in the 8th, and Tom Henke pitched a perfect 9th to get his 11th save. Eckersley is now 3-3 with 2 blown saves and a 10.16 ERA. Detroit took the 6-4 win and improved to 26-18, while Boston fell back to 23-20, 2 1/2 games behind the Rockets for the AL lead.