DETROIT, July 8 - The Detroit Tigers slammed three home runs off Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka to beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 and sweep a three-game series on Sunday.

The Tigers pounded Matsuzaka (10-6) for 10 hits and six runs in five innings to win their fifth in a row.

"I think the problem today was with my control," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "I felt I left a lot of my pitches in soft locations."

The AL East-leading Red Sox (53-34) have lost six consecutive road games and eight of their last 13. But they still have the best record in Major League Baseball entering the All-Star break.

The Tigers, the AL Central leaders, are close behind at 52-34.

Gary Sheffield homered in the first inning, then doubled in the third and fourth for the Tigers, who have won seven of their last 10 games.

Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames added homers in a four-run third inning off the ineffective Matsuzaka.

Thames's solo homer tied the score at 2-2. Sean Casey singled to drive in Sheffield, then Guillen hit a two-run homer to make it 5-2.

"(You) just have to be aggressive and look for the good pitch to hit," Guillen told reporters.

Sheffield's ground-rule double made it 6-2 in the fourth.

Boston pulled within 6-4 on seventh-inning home runs by Jeff Bailey and Julio Lugo, who then closed the gap to 6-5 with a run-scoring double in the eighth.

Boston threatened again in the ninth with runners on first and third, but J.D. Drew fouled out to end the game.

Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson robbed the Red Sox's Wily Mo Pena of a fourth-inning homer, leaping above the left-center field fence for the catch.

"If that's not one of the 'Web gems,' I've never seen one, because that's as good as it gets," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told reporters.

*Alex Rodriguez hit his Major League-leading 30th home run, a three-run shot in the fourth inning, and the New York Yankees crushed the Los Angeles Angels 12-0.

*Alex Rios drove in Reed Johnson with a one-out, ninth-inning single to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 1-0 home win over the Cleveland Indians.