DETROIT -- A short break appears to have gotten Justin Upton back on the fast track.

Upton, in his second game back from a three-game hiatus to hit the mental reset button on a disappointing season, cracked a pair of three-run home runs Sunday to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 10-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox and a split of their four-game series.

"It was warranted, man," Upton said of his three games off, two of which he pinch-ran in. "I wasn't contributing. I wasn't being the player they expect me to be. It did help.

"Honestly, at this point in my career, I can say I was not putting pressure on myself. I just want to perform. Nobody likes to struggle. At the end of the day I was kind of buried in it."

Upton, hitting .228 at game time, came within an inch or two of hitting a game-tying home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth Sunday.

On Sunday, he came up in the third with two on and tagged Boston emergency starter Henry Owens (0-1) for his 14th home run of the season. Owens, subbing for injured Eduardo Rodriguez, fed Upton a 2-0 changeup that Upton hit halfway up the stands in left to give Detroit a 5-0 lead.

"This one came down to base on balls and Justin Upton," manager John Farrell of Boston said. "That's the difference in this one.

"We're in the third inning where we're working through some things; end up in a second and third situation with two outs and it's a pick your poison situation with (Miguel) Cabrera and J.D. Martinez.

"So load the bases. He's working through the at-bat with Martinez in pretty good shape, he gets in a 1-2 count and Martinez ends up putting the bat on the ball on a changeup that was off the plate away and pokes it inside the first-base bag.

"We're sitting there in a two-run ball game and all of a sudden it's the Upton show at that point. A three-run homer a couple of different times today. Unfortunately it's an eight-run hole at that point."

Upton jumped on a 3-1 Owens fastball with two on in the fifth for his 15th home run of the year to make it 8-0. It came after Cabrera singled and stopped at third on a double to left by J.D. Martinez. The six RBIs equaled a career best for Upton.

"It's fun when you can pick your team up," said Upton, whose parents and wife were in the stands. "They've been picking me up all year.

"They've always been there to pick me up. I've been very appreciative of this all year. They've kept me in good spirits."

"It's huge," winning pitcher Justin Verlander (13-7) said. "I talked about Brad (Ausmus, the Tigers manager) giving him a couple days just to kind of relax, compose his thoughts, get himself back and ready to play some baseball.

"He's a superstar. He handled that fantastically. I was talking with the guys the other day about how well he was -- hey, look, whatever it takes to help win. He pinch ran late in the game and was ready to go.

"You don't see that a lot of times from guys of his status, which was really nice to see. To see him come out the last couple days and do what he did, I know everybody in here's rooting hard for him and this city needs to be rooting hard for him because he can singlehandedly carry a team when he gets hot."

"Most of the guys in there at some point have struggled," Ausmus said. "They know what it feels like. But they all genuinely like Upton. He's good guy, a good teammate. Even when he was struggling he came to the field with a smile on his face and worked hard. He plays every single day. I think it's probably those two things combined."

J.D. Martinez got a key two-run double just ahead of Upton's first home run.

Verlander held Boston to one run in six innings, and fresh-off-the-disabled-list Cameron Maybin had a two-run single in the sixth as Detroit won for just the fourth time in 14 games while handing Boston only its second defeat in its last 10.

Verlander shut the Red Sox out on two hits for five innings before giving up a run in the sixth on a leadoff triple by rookie Andrew Benintendi plus a sacrifice fly by Dustin Pedroia. He walked one and struck out five.

Shane Greene took over in the seventh and gave up four quick runs that cut the Red Sox's deficit to 10-5. Sandy Leon had an RBI single, Travis Shaw hit into a run-scoring forceout and Benintendi launched his first major league home run, a two-run shot to extreme right.

Justin Wilson pitched the eighth for the Tigers and Kyle Ryan the ninth for Detroit.

NOTES: Tigers CF Cameron Maybin (left thumb) was activated off the disabled list and returned to the starting lineup Sunday, with SS Dixon Machado being optioned back to Triple-A Toledo. ... The Red Sox optioned SS Deven Marrero to Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday to clear a spot for LHP Henry Owens, brought up to make an emergency start for the Red Sox. ... Detroit SS Jose Iglesias (hamstring) will begin a rehab assignment Monday. Manager Brad Ausmus said it will be a few days of DHing and playing short before he is activated. ... Boston intends to activate Chris Young (hamstring) off the disabled list Monday. He is likely to be used off the bench to give Red Sox outfielders a breather.