Both Jeremy Bonderman and his manager called it a Houdini act. But more than magic, it was maturation: Don't blink, and you can watch this fresh-faced 22-year-old pitcher grow up before your very eyes.

"Kid Bonderman became a man tonight," pitching coach Bob Cluck said after Monday's 8-3 win over the Red Sox.

Bonderman gave up three runs in the third inning and had runners at the corners with no outs. Bonderman escaped. An inning later, the bases were loaded with none out, the heart of Boston's order coming up, and Franklyn German was warming up in the bullpen. Bonderman escaped again.

Around the same age Bonderman is at right now, Harry Houdini was reportedly touring museums, earning attention with his brother for a signature trick in which they traded places in a locked trunk. His career as a vaudeville magician took off about four years later.

It's almost becoming too easy to find moments when Bonderman appears on the brink of becoming an elite pitcher. But whichever moment it is, he looks a lot closer to stardom than four years.

"I don't consider myself a great pitcher yet," Bonderman said. "I consider myself a pitcher who's learning to become a great pitcher. That's a big step forward for me."

Cluck attributed Bonderman's early struggles to a mechanical flaw that flattened out his pitches. He gave up a single and a walk in the second inning, but left runners at the corners, then the Red Sox lineup exploited him in the third.

A walk preceded a Johnny Damon triple to right-center field. Another walk, a Manny Ramirez RBI double to the right-field wall and a David Ortiz single left Bonderman reeling. He had an 0-2 count on Ortiz before working the count full.

Bonderman had pitched at least into the seventh inning in all five of his previous starts this season. Now, after five straight hitters reaching base safely, he was in danger of not surviving the third.

"You can't go forever," manager Alan Trammell said. "You have to get somebody loose. I was hoping that he could get through it."

Somehow, Bonderman did. He earned a pop-out foul to first base from Kevin Millar, struck out Jason Varitek swinging, then finished with a fielder's choice groundout from Edgar Renteria to head for the dugout with a 3-2 deficit.

"He got an out, then he got another one," Trammell said. "And then he was able to [practice] damage control."

Cluck talked to Bonderman between innings about his mechanics, but the change didn't immediately show. With the score at 3-3, Bill Mueller led off the fourth with a double, Kevin Youkilis walked and then Damon singled to load the bases for the heart of the Red Sox order.

Carlos Pena  /   1B
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"I wasn't going to give in," Bonderman said. "The biggest thing is when you have guys like they do, you can't try to do too much. To me, I was [thinking] if I got out with one run, I'd be all right."

Trot Nixon hit a 1-1 pitch to left, but not deep enough for a sacrifice fly on Marcus Thames.

"Once I got the first out," Bonderman said, "I had a feeling I could get out of it. Manny Ramirez, he's one of the best hitters in the game. For me, I was just trying to get a ground ball."

Better than that, he put Ramirez in an 0-2 hole. Unlike Ortiz an inning earlier, Bonderman finished him off with a sharp slider.

"It was the only pitch I was throwing for a strike there for a while, so I was sticking with it," Bonderman said.

An escape now looking almost likely, Bonderman put Ortiz in a 1-2 hole before a ground ball to second ended the inning.

"That was a big turning point for me in the game," Bonderman said. "After that, I was able to attack the zone and pitch my game."

The mechanical adjustment wasn't anything new. It was the same fix Bonderman had a few weeks ago against Cleveland, when the Indians scored six times on him in the opening inning. Bonderman recovered that day to last six.

Again Monday night, Bonderman went on to go six. He used 52 pitches in the third and fourth innings, 60 pitches in the other four.

"It sounds like a simple thing," Cluck said, "but it's hard to do in mid-game. He tried it and it didn't work at first. He eventually figured it out. Those are self-coaching skills."

The only runner to reach scoring position on him from there advanced there on a double and error from Nook Logan, putting Nixon on third with two outs. Bonderman's last pitch of the night went to the edge of the warning track in left-center, where Logan ran it down.

Craig Monroe's two-run double in the first inning and Carlos Guillen's RBI single in the third comprised Detroit's offense against Red Sox starter Jeremi Gonzalez, who was called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Pawtucket. Blaine Neal (0-1) replaced him to start the sixth and missed the strike zone with his first six pitches, walking Monroe and putting a 2-0 count on Carlos Pena.

Pena went to a full count before pulling an inside breaking ball just inside the right-field foul pole for his first home run since April 9. He didn't wait long for his next, pulling a solo shot down the right-field line in the eighth inning off left-hander Alan Embree. Pena is 4-for-7 over the last two games since enduring a 3-for-41 slump.

Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless seventh and then Ugueth Urbina followed with two scoreless frames for his first save of the season. But Bonderman's early save was the only feat that earned magical comparisons.

"Jeremy Bonderman deserves a heckuva lot of credit," Trammell said. "It wasn't a great night for him as far as his stuff and rhythm, but you know what, he did his job. This is a 22-year-old kid who's kind of growing into a man."