Final, Red Sox 14-1: Someone finally had the sense to call this thing, thankfully.
With just eight turns at the plate, Boston scores 14 runs for the second straight game, this time on only 16 hits (had 20 yesterday). They have outscored opponents 32-4 since over the course of the last 23 1/2 innings.
If that doesn’t tell you how dominant this team is right now, you’re missing something.
The Sox have won 11 of 13 and will look to keep it going again Friday night with Tim Wakefield on the mound. We will have all the action in that one as well. Thanks for waiting this one out with us.
4:47 p.m.: Um, no updates. Rain falling in Detroit and it’s still a 13-run game that does not need to be resumed.
4:09 p.m.: This is the first time a team has scored 14 runs in consecutive games since Texas in August 2008.
Carl Crawford has consecutive four-game hits for the first time in his career.
Drew Sutton has five hits (four doubles) in two games.
The superlatives are mounting by the minutes, as is the length of a rather ridiculous rain delay. We will keep you posted.
4:05 p.m.: And as I fire off that last post, the tarp has gone on the field. Not sure why they would ever want to resume something like this, but let’s all suffer together.
Updates to come.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 14-1: There have been some dark days in this history of Comerica Park. You might recall the 43-119 team that played here in 2003, as well as a few other horrendous units.
But the scene right now is about as depressing as any. With rain pouring down and seats emptied out, the Red Sox had five more hits and a walk in the eighth, totaling five runs.
And for some reason it’s even more depressing when the “scrubs” are doing so much damage. After Carl Crawford recorded his second straight four-hit game, Drew Sutton had an RBI double and Josh Reddick an RBI single. Those two are a combined 5-for-10 with five RBIs and four runs scored.
 My mother always used to say whenever watching a team put up a lot of runs: “They should save some of these for later on.”
Weird thing. She was often right. But as long as the Red Sox have their hitting shoes on, they’re going to keep hacking away.
3:45 p.m.: Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez were a little late to the party, but they’ve arrived.
Pedroia gets his first hit of the game with an RBI double and Gonzalez follows with a run-scoring single. Every Red Sox player has a hit, and Gonzalez’s has run Ryan Perry from the game.
Pitching change in the rain at Comerica.
End 7th, Red Sox 9-1: Matt Albers’ life flashed before his eyes. Then, the line drive screaming back at him wound up nestled in his glove, the last of three straight outs in the seventh.
And yes, I know Ortiz’s first name is not Davif. Was just trying to see if a new nickname could catch on.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 9-1: Who is hotter? David Ortiz or Carl Crawford? The answer, of course, is both.
Both are hotter.
And both team to provide the Red Sox another run in the seventh. Ortiz ripped his MLB-leading 17th extra-base hit in May and Crawford followed with his second triple of the game.
Ortiz is hitting .441 (15-for-34) with nine extra-base hits in his last eight games. Crawford is 7-for-8 since being moved to the No. 6 spot in the order. Five of those seven hits have been for extra bases.
Matt Albers is on in relief of Alfredo Aceves.
End 6th, Red Sox 8-1: If that is it for Alfredo Aceves, the Red Sox will be thrilled. He pickes up his sixth strikeout, one shy of his career high, in a scoreless sixth and leaves the mound having thrown 98 pitches.
Matt Albers was up and warming, so he will probably be next. Terry Francona was giving Aceves mad props in the dugout, so the change will come.
The 98 pitches is a career high.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 8-1: I joked earlier that the only Red Sox starter that would not get a hit would be Jason Varitek.
Here we are six innings in and the only two candidates for that status are Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.
Anyway, Alfredo Aceves carries a pitch count of 80 out for the sixth.
3:07 p.m.: Nice to see Josh Reddick stand in against what looks like a tough lefty and lace a single to right.
That happened to lead off the sixth, and Jason Varitek followed with a hit of his own.
After Adam Wilk got two straight strikeouts, Adrian Gonzalez ripped a shot that second baseman Scott Sizemore couldn’t handle.
The error allows Reddick to score the eighth Red Sox run, and ends the day for Wilk.
End 5th, Red Sox 7-1: Well, Alfredo Aceves didn’t necessarily have the quickest of innings (21 pitches), but it was extremely impressive.
Aceves got himself in a bit of a mess by giving up a single and a double with one out. That put two men in scoring position with the 3-4 hitters coming up.
Aceves got Brennan Boesch to pop foul to Kevin Youkilis and then blew away cleanup hitter Miguel Cabrera on a 93 mph fastball.
Good stuff today from Aceves. As mentioned, he was able to establish that heater early. He’s played off of it well and thrown it with excellent command.
At 80 pitches, Aceves may be on a relatively short leash going forward. We’ll see.
By the way, this is now an official game. Worth noting as the rain begins to fall.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 7-1: The Adam Wilk show continues. He is a lefty, so there’s always a chance of success vs. Boston.
Wilk has yet to allow a hit in three innings of relief. He did walk David Ortiz in the fifth, but gets out of the inning with a strikeout of Drew Sutton.
Alfredo Aceves is at 59 pitches entering the bottom of the fifth. He’s in great shape to get six in, maybe more with a quick frame right here.
End 4th, Red Sox 7-1: The Tigers have to start somewhere. They do with an Alex Avila RBI single in the fourth.
Alfredo Aceves got himself into the mess by hitting leadoff man Brennan Boesch. A Miguel Cabrera single preceded two outs, which preceded the Avila hit, which preceded a strikeout of Scott Sizemore, which preceded a walk to the dugout by Alfredo Aceves.
This could all precede a rain delay. Storms are a-threatenin’.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 7-0: Apologies for not mentioning the name of the Tigers pitcher who took over for Max Scherzer.
Adam Wilk is the guy who came on. He is a lefty making his major league debut, and so far looking pretty good. Wilk has retired all six men he has faced to bring a bit of normalcy to this one.
Wilk is a starter. All 49 of his games in the minors came as one. So, as long as he gets outs, he’ll stay in this one and eat up as many innings as possible for Jim Leyland.
End 3rd, Red Sox 7-0: As we sit here entering the fourth, Alfredo Aceves has an ERA of 2.75 in seven career starts, counting the first three innings of this one.
Essentially, Aceves is in a competition with Tim Wakefield for that fifth spot once John Lackey returns. He has eight solid innings as a Red Sox starter as ammunition in that debate.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 7-0: My prediction for the one starter to go without a hit in this one is Jason Varitek. It was Jed Lowrie yesterday, but Varitek is a good candidate after finishing the third 0-for-2.
Carl Crawford was stranded at third, despite getting there with no outs. Not really thinking that will hurt the Red Sox, but you never know.
1:55 p.m.: With a two-run triple (the hit he needed for the cycle yesterday), Carl Crawford has six consecutive hits and has chased an ineffective Max Scherzer. Take note of what I said about Scherzer pregame if you want to get on me for something.
Crawford is halfway to tying the team record for consecutive hits. Mike Higgins had a hit in 12 straight at-bats in 1938.
End 2nd, Red Sox 5-0: Like Jon Lester yesterday, Alfredo Aceves can establish that fastball with a bit more ease because of the big cushion he has. Let the defense do its job.
Six of Aceves’ first seven pitches in the second were fastballs. Then he used two cutters and a curveball to fan Alex Avila to end it.
Perfectly executed.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 5-0: The Red Sox have outscored opponents 23-3 over the last 18 innings. Sheer dominance right now, and the contributions are coming from everywhere.
Surely, when people had visions of this team scoring 900-plus runs and hanging crooked numbers all over the place, it was with the big names heavily involved. But how nice is it to get the first two RBIs from Drew Sutton and Josh Reddick.
After Sutton doubled in a run (his third double in two games), Reddick singled on the first pitch he saw to bring in another. Reddick stole second base and, after a Jason Varitek strikeout, Jacoby Ellsbury launced his fifth home run of the year, a three-run shot to right.
Ellsbury was in a mini-funk before his three-hit effort yesterday. A walk and a home run so far in this one.
1:35 p.m.: The Red Sox opened the second inning with four straight hits, including an RBI double by Drew Sutton and a run-scoring hit by Josh Reddick.
It’s great getting contributions from guys not even on the team a week ago.
End 1st, 0-0: The two pitchers have combined for five fly outs and one strikeout so far. That K belongs to Alfredo Aceves, who go Don Kelly on a pretty biting slider that broke in.
It was the second of three straight outs in the opening frame for Aceves.
Terry Francona has indicated that it isn’t so much the pitch count that they need to watch with Aceves. It is how hard he works. Some of that goes hand in hand, but you see his point. Nice, easy innings will help him get to five, six frames, and that will make Francona plenty happy.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Usually, throwing four straight balls to Jacoby Ellsbury and then two to Dustin Pedroia, putting him in a hitter’s count, is bad news.
Max Scherzer is able to shake off the leadoff walk by getting Pedroia to fly to center, Adrian Gonzalez to left and Kevin Youkilis to right.
If you didn’t see this, you need to. Huge blow for the defending champion Giants, who may be without Buster Posey for the year.
1:06 p.m.: The first pitch from Max Scherzer to Jacoby Ellsbury is a ball, and the skies are somewhat sunny. For now.
12:48 p.m.: The last time the Red Sox faced Max Scherzer in Detroit, he gave up six runs in five innings, falling to 1-4 with a 7.29 ERA. It was just over a year ago.
After that, Detroit sent the struggling right-hander down. When he returned he was a new pitcher.
Since that start, Scherzer is 16-8 with a 2.61 ERA and has 218 strikeouts in 217 innings. Included in that run was a start in Fenway Park in which he gave up one run in 6 1/3 innings. This is serious test for Boston’s booming bats.
11:53 a.m.: In other news out of Detroit, Bobby Jenks is on the verge of heading off for a rehab assignment.
According to MLB.com’s Ian Browne, Jenks will throw Friday and Sunday and could return on the upcoming six-game homestand.
The latest hourly forecast suggests that the real heavy stuff may not come for a few more hours, but it seems to change every time I check. If they play a fast game, a rain delay could be avoided. If not, strap yourselves in for a long afternoon/evening.
11:12 a.m.: Unsure as to when Darnell McDonald was hurt. He received his first at-bat in 20 days during yesterday’s rout, and played a few innings in left field.
It may not necessarily be a serious issue, but if the club thought that he would be out more than a day or so, and they felt the same way about Drew, there would suddenly be nobody beyond maybe Drew Sutton to be a backup outfielder.
Hence the Reddick move.
As for the young prospect, he has been up and down several times in the past two years, but many of them resulted in some limited production and limited playing time — he was a bit of an insurance policy. However, he began to have a few better swings during his September call-up in 2010, and opened this year on fire, as opposed to last, when he limped out of the gate.
Reddick is a hot-and-cold kinda guy. Perhaps the Sox can get him during a hot streak and help ride out this little wave of muscle pulls and strains.
10:50 a.m.: My apologies. I had Josh Reddick batting seventh rather than eighth. He and Drew Sutton have been flip-flopped in the now-correct order below.
It is indeed Darnell McDonald to the DL. The reason for Reddick in there instead of Mike Cameron is because Terry Francona wanted a lefty against Max Scherzer.
J.D. Drew is still sidelined with a hammy strain.
Also, here is Detroit’s lineup:
Austin Jackson, CF
Don Kelly, LF
Brennan Boesch, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Alex Avila, C
Scott Sizemore, 2B
Brandon Inge, 3B
9:52 a.m.: Josh Reddick is in the clubhouse and in the lineup Thursday afternoon at Detroit. The word is that the corresponding move with be Darnell McDonald to the DL, although we are awaiting confirmation.
Here is the rather different lineup:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Carl Crawford, LF
Drew Sutton, SS
Josh Reddick, RF
Jason Varitek, C
More on this in a moment.
8:07 a.m.: This feels like a daily task — the weather update.
Rain is in the Detroit area for much of the day. It wiped out the Tigers-Rays game yesterday, and will be a threat in this one. The hourly forecast shows a 70 percent chance of precipitation from about 2 p.m. on into the night.
We will do our best to provide updates as morning turns to afternoon. The lineups should be out in a little bit.
6 a.m.: Alfredo Aceves will make his second start for the Red Sox when they begin a four-game series in Detroit on Thursday afternoon.
Aceves allowed a run on three hits in five innings against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. It was his sixth career start but just his second since 2008.
The righty will hope to receive some of the run support afforded Jon Lester on Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland. Boston pounded out 20 hits, including four home runs and six doubles, in a 14-2 rout of the Indians.
The Sox hitters will have a tough test in Tigers starter Max Scherzer. He suffered his first loss in seven decisions his last time out, but carries an impressive 2.98 ERA into this one. Scherzer is 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA in two career starts versus Boston.
This marks the second straight matinee in two cities for the Red Sox. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.
