BOSTON -- It's no secret that when the streaky Jackie Bradley Jr. is in the middle of one of his good stretches, he makes the Boston Red Sox far more dangerous.

The center fielder is enjoying one of those streaks now.

"He's on about a three-week run here where the hard hits have been more frequent, the batting average has been better, the extra-base hits are there," Boston manager John Farrell said after Bradley ripped a long two-out, two-run homer to cap a three-run eighth-inning rally and lift his team to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

Bradley, hitting just .231 for the season, drove in a run with a fourth-inning single and then hit his fourth homer in his last 13 games to win it. He drove in his 11th, 12th and 13th RBIs in his last 10 games and has batted .333 over that span.

His moonshot capped a night that saw the Red Sox, stymied to the tune of one run in the last two games against the Yankees in New York, rally from three runs down to pull out the win.

After Mitch Moreland, who homered and doubled earlier, tied the game with an RBI single, Bradley hit a 1-1 pitch from Alex Wilson (1-3) over the visitors' bullpen in right field for his eighth homer.

"That's one of the longer home runs I've seen hit in this ballpark," said Farrell. "You think ... that's halfway to the red seat (in the bleachers reached by Ted Williams), which almost seems like it's a myth how far the red seat is.

"A beautiful swing. Well hit. Timely, no doubt."

Moreland, who has 10 extra-base hits in his last 10 games, made a big stretch to save Pablo Sandoval from an error and end the top of the fourth, led off the bottom with his homer, starting the comeback.

"It's important, it's very important," said Bradley. "We had just lost two on the road so we definitely wanted to start things off right back at home. This was a big win. Hopefully we can get some momentum and keep it going."

Said Wilson: "I just didn't get a ball where it needed to go and he took care of it."

The big inning started when right fielder J.D. Martinez failed to catch up to a Xander Bogaerts pop fly in short right ("we caught a break," said Farrell) before Bogaerts took second on Wilson's wild pickoff throw.

Brian Johnson, summoned from the minors for the third time and third start, struggled through 4 1/3 innings (105 pitches) but kept the Red Sox alive before the bullpen threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings. "That was the key," said Farrell.

Matt Barnes (4-2) pitched the top of the eighth and got the win and Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth for the 18th save of his dominant season. He had two strikeouts, ending the game with Miguel Cabrera's fourth K in five at-bats in the game.

The win was the Red Sox' fourth in 29 games when trailing after seven innings. They had scored just three runs in their previous 25 innings before erupting in the eighth.

Bradley's homer was his second hit of the game to go with two strikeouts.

Asked about the .231 batting average being a bit misleading, Farrell said, "The percentage of hard contact is indicative of a better average. If you're saying he's a .230 hitter, it's one of the harder .230 averages you might see."

The Tigers, who have lost three of their last four, got six solid innings from Jordan Zimmerman, who turned in his second straight quality start. He was hit on the leg by a 111 mph liner off the bat of Bogaerts in the first inning but stayed in, manager Brad Ausmus saying, "It's tough to shake him off the mound. Unless his leg's severed, he's not coming out."

Nicholas Castellanos and Mikey Mahtook homered and Martinez and Jose Iglesias both had three hits for the Tigers (29-31).

"We kind of split the game," said Ausmus. "The first half went to us. The second half went to them. And their second half was better than our first."

NOTES: Boston manager John Farrell met with LHP David Price concerning Price's outburst at the media in New York Wednesday night. ... Tigers 3B Nicholas Castellanos made his 12th error of the season, high among all 3Bs and three more than he made in 108 games last season. ... The Red Sox activated 2B Dustin Pedroia and recalled LHP Brian Johnson from Triple-A Pawtucket and both started, Pedroia going 0-for-4 -- while 1B Sam Travis and RHP Brandon Workman were both optioned back to Pawtucket. ... The Tigers activated C James McCann and sent C John Hicks back to Triple-A Toledo. ... Tigers RHP Justin Verlander and Red Sox LHP Chris Sale go head-to-head for the sixth time in their careers Saturday night. The Tigers have won all five previous games, four of them when Sale was with the Chicago White Sox, Verlander going 2-0 and Sale 0-2. Verlander left his last start with right groin tightness but threw a 33-pitch bullpen session Thursday and reported no problems. ... Friday night was Pride Night at Fenway.