– Kevin Youkilis somehow fouled the ball off the back of his right knee and had a "pretty good mark" there when he came out. He'll probably get a day off before returning Friday, Francona said.
– Mike Lowell will likely DH on Thursday, giving him his first set of back-to-back games of the spring.
– Francona said that lefty relievers Alan Embree and Scott Schoeneweis looked better to him, despite both giving up more runs. Embree was reached for four runs in the ninth. Scheneweis allowed one in the eighth.
– Jed Lowrie will be kept in Florida when the team heads north, just to keep him in his surroundings and to have facilities in place whenever he gets healthy again.
"There's no reason to put him on a plane," Francona said.
The bus filled with chicken is making its way back to Fort Myers, where Boston will host Minnesota on Thursday and Washington on Friday before heading to the nation's capital for a game Saturday.
Final, Red Sox 14-6: The Sox can park the big bus until next March after cruising through their final road game in Florida with a rout of the Baltimore Orioles
They get a grand slam and a two-run homer from Victor Martinez, a grand slam from Kevin Frandsen and seven dominant innings out of Jon Lester in a one-sided affair at Ed Smith Stadium.
The one negative note came in the ninth when Alan Embree continued to struggle to get anybody out. He has now allowed 11 runs — 10 earned — in 2 1/3 innings since signing with the Sox. It's looking less and less likely he will be going north with the club.
Regardless, it was a relatively comfortable day in Sarasota that takes Boston one step closer to the big one Sunday night. We are off to talk to Terry Francona and will be back to sum things up for you.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 14-2: The O's scratched across a run while we were gone talking to a few players.
Despite having a better start each time out and dominating Baltimore in this one, Jon Lester said he has a few things to work on in his next bullpen session.
Victor Martinez simply said he was seeing the ball well.
Mike Lowell, who helped turn a 6-5-3 double play in the fourth in which the Sox were lined up in a defensive shift and he covered second base, was asked how he felt defensively at third base.
"I'm better at shortstop," Lowell joked.
Alan Embree is out there for the bottom of the ninth.
3:27 p.m.: Although he was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket shortly after being acquired last week, Kevin Frandsen has made a little noise during his abbreviated time in camp.
He had a game-tying single in the ninth inning Tuesday in Port Charlotte and just lofted the team's second grand slam of the game over the wall in left.
One of the men who came in on the blast was running for Victor Martinez, who led off with a single to improve to 3-for-5 with home runs and six RBI.
The inning is still going but we are off to the clubhouse for a bit.
End 7th, Red Sox 10-1: Jon Lester is the first Red Sox pitcher to go seven innings this spring. A double play helps him work around a one-out single.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 10-1: Mike Lowell rips his second double of the game and his pinch runner, Kevin Frandsen, comes around to score on Marco Scutaro's single.
By the way, Che-Hsuan Lin has reached in all four of his plate appearances.
Jon Lester is still out there but may only get to face a batter or two.
End 6th, Red Sox 9-1: John Lackey and Tim Wakefield have had the smoothest springs among Red Sox starters, but Jon Lester may have had the best progression. He has improved with each outing.
Lester works around a leadoff walk in the sixth. He has allowed just two hits, one on the first batter in the bottom of the first inning.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 9-1: Three straight groundouts for the Sox in the sixth. Jon Lester is out there for another inning of work, at least. His pitch count has to be somewhat low but we cannot see the Boston bullpen from here so we can only speculate.
End 5th, Red Sox 9-1: The outstanding day continues for Victor Martinez.
Already 2-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI, he makes a sliding catch in front of the Orioles' dugout to end the fifth.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 9-1: If Victor Martinez got about 10 more feet on a long fly to center to end the top of the fifth, he would've had three home runs and nine RBI.
His drive was caught on the track, stranding two runners.
End 4th, Red Sox 9-1: It's likely precautionary, but Kevin Youkilis was replaced at first base by Aaron Bates.
Youkilis did appear to be in some pain after fouling a ball off his right leg in the top of the fourth. He was able to single and run the bases before the inning ended.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 9-1: Many of those who have worries about the Red Sox offense this season forget how much more potent it became in August and September once Victor Martinez was plugged into the No. 3 spot.
A full season of what we are seeing against the Orioles will serve the Sox well.
Martinez just hit a grand slam to straightaway center, giving him two home runs and six RBI in the last two innings alone.
Just to show how miserable the inning was for Baltimore reliever Jim Johnson, Kevin Youkilis fouled a ball off his leg and was in some pretty severe pain just one pitch before taking a Johnson delivery into center for a single.
Johnson was relieved after striking out David Ortiz and an Orioles reliever with a really high number came on to get the last two outs
End 3rd, Red Sox 5-1: Jon Lester gives up a walk and an extremely weak infield hit to start things off and does a nice job of limiting the damage after that. The run scored on a grounder to second.
While Lester moves along, we have the lines from a few Red Sox relievers who threw at the minor league complex today.
Jonathan Papelbon gave up a run on two hits and a walk in one inning. He did strike out three. Papelbon threw 16 of his 26 pitches for strikes.
Hideki Okajima allowed two unearned runs in his inning of work. He gave up two hits and struck out one, throwing 14 of 20 pitches for strikes.
Both were facing Single-A hitters from the Minnesota Twins organization.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 5-0: It's safe to say the Sox figured out Jason Berken. He was positively hammered in the third inning, the biggest blow a two-run homer for Victor Martinez.
Berken was mercifully lifted after J.D. Drew's RBI single with one out.
Kevin Youkilis may have had the hardest hit ball of the frame. He followed the Martinez blast with a frozen rope that reached the wall in left-center field on a line.
End 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: In case anybody has forgotten about this over the long winter, Jon Lester simply owns the O's.
In 12 career starts against Baltimore, the lefty is 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA. He has as many as six wins against only one other team, that being Tampa Bay.
Business as usual in the third as Lester sets down the Orioles 1-2-3.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: Mike Lowell, welcome to spring training.
Lowell gets his first RBI in Grapefruit League play with a double in the second. Josh Reddick adds a sacrifice fly that plates J.D. Drew.
The damage could have been much worse if not for a sparkling double play which began when shortstop Cesar Izturis made a pretty backhand stop.
While Lowell's hit was nice to see, the highlight of the inning for the Sox was David Ortiz lumbering into second with a leadoff double. It's always fun to watch him stretch out a hit.
End 1st, 0-0: There were a couple of hard-hit balls in the first off Jon Lester, but nothing on the board for the O's.
Brian Roberts led off with a double down the line in right, just his second hit in an injury-marred spring. With one out Nick Markakis hit a hard liner directly to shortstop Marco Scutaro.
Miguel Tejada went down swinging to end it.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Dustin Pedroia gets on with the old strikeout and wild pitch but is eventually left at second base.
Terry Francona said earlier that Jon Lester will get about 95 pitches in during his final tune-up. Alan Embree, Scott Schoeneweis and Joe Nelson are also lined up to get some work in this one.
12:58 p.m.: A Florida congressman was just booed when introduced to throw out the first pitch. When he bounced one past the catcher the boos just increased in intensity. We really love our politicians these days.
12:19 p.m.: One pre-game note we were able to pick up despite being caught in horrific traffic on I-75 was that outfielder Jeremy Hermida took batting practice Tuesday and is likely to play in a game Friday.
With Hermida out it makes Josh Reddick's at-bats a bit more important. He would be the guy to fill in if by some chance Hermida cannot go to start the season (not likely) and is getting another look today, hoping to build off an impressive spring.
Reddick homered Tuesday in Port Charlotte and enters the game hitting .404 with a team-high 37 total bases, 11 more than any other player on the team.
Also, when asked, Terry Francona said Mike Lowell will probably see a back-to-back situation this week but one of the two games would be in a reserve role. Lowell has yet to play consecutive games this spring.
One quick Orioles note as well. Adam Jones has been scratched from the lineup. No reason given. Felix Pie will hit second and play center field and Nolan Reimold will stay in left and hit fifth.
12:05 p.m.: Jon Lester will face a lineup with a pair of lefties and three switch-hitters.
Here is the Orioles' lineup:
Brian Roberts, 2B
Nolan Reimold, LF
Nick Markakis, RF
Miguel Tejada, 3B
Adam Jones, CF
Luke Scott, DH
Matt Wieters, C
Garrett Atkins, 1B
Cesar Izturis, SS
11:31 a.m.: Marco Scutaro will be batting leadoff Wednesday while Mike Lowell takes the hot corner.
Here is the complete Red Sox lineup for this afternoon:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Josh Reddick, LF
Che-Hsuan Lin, CF
8:00 a.m.: Jon Lester gets his last start of spring training when he faces the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota.
The first pitch is 1:05 p.m. and we will carry you through the Red Sox' final road game in Florida.
Lester has gotten past a couple of rocky starts to open the Grapefruit League schedule by throwing two solid outings in a row. He is lined up to pitch in the second game of the regular season, Tuesday against the Yankees.
Jason Berken gets the nod for Baltimore.
