Final, Red Sox 14-2: It comes to a merciful close at 3:08 p.m. Twenty hits, half of them for extra bases, and six scoreless innings from Jon Lester adds up to a pretty dominant overall effort that nets a series win for Boston.
Lester is 7-1 and the Sox are a season-high five games above .500.
There is another quick turnaround for Boston, which has to hop a quick flight to Detroit and then play an awkward series-opening matinee in Comerica Park. That one starts at 1:05 p.m. and it will feature Alfredo Aceves against Max Scherzer.
And. Now. Hockey.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 14-2: It will be Scott Atchison to get the last three outs. He works quick, folks, so you can just about turn your attention to hockey.
End 8th, Red Sox 14-2: The second appearance in a Red Sox uniform for Franklin Morales does not go so well, but he was hurt by the swirling winds, or just a poor play by Mike Cameron.
With two outs and man on first, Travis Buck hit a sky-high pop into right that got Cameron all turned around. It drifted and drifted before landing behing him on the warning track.
Shelley Duncan followed with a two-run single. Better get Bard up.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 14-0: With a single by Mike Cameron in the eighth, every Red Sox starter has at least two hits. The club has 20 hits, matching their high from a year ago.
End 7th, Red Sox 14-0: So, there’s some hockey tonight, right? With this one just a formality it’s about time to look ahead.
The game is on that other network, but NESN will have pregame coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m., and enough postgame reaction to carry you off to sleep, either smiling or cursing.
Also, make sure to follow Doug Flynn’s Bruins Live Blog throughout the day and night for all your updates.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 14-0: And Jed Lowrie remains without a hit. Makes sense. He’s the only player on the Red Sox on my fantasy team.
Dan Wheeler will get an inning or two here. We may see Franklin Morales get some outs as well.
End 6th, Red Sox 14-0: OK, so Jon Lester’s streak of consecutive outs ends at 15 and he has to labor a bit to get off the mound in the sixth, but that doesn’t mean much right now.
Jed Lowrie is due up second in the seventh and remains the only Red Sox starter without a hit. Seven have at least two.
Unfortunately, Carl Crawford will not get a chance to go for five. He was replaced in left by Darnell McDonald.
Gotta give the drum guy some credit. Cleveland gets two runners on in the sixth inning, down 14 runs, and he pounds away throughout the minor threat.
That will be it for Lester, by the way. Dan Wheeler is up and warming. No need to run the lefty back out there.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 14-0: Three doubles, two home runs and a walk adds up to five more runs in the sixth for Boston. It’s become a laugher, and is causing us to rush through the media guide for records and what not.
One interesting note I just saw. The highest scoring total by one team in the long history between these two teams was 24, accomplished by the Red Sox in Cleveland in 1986.
Tony Armas had two home runs and six RBIs. Wade Boggs, amazingly, was 0-for-5.
1:55 p.m.: Manny Acta making sure I’m on my toes.
The second that last post goes out, Frank Herrmann gets the first out of the sixth and then is removed from the game. He gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings, and remains responsible for the man on second.
1:53 p.m.: The David Ortiz blast was just the tip of the iceberg in the sixth.
Jed Lowrie walked, Carl Crawford doubled (now 4-for-4), Jarrod Saltalamacchia slugged a three-run shot and Mike Cameron just doubled.
Boston is still batting with no outs.
1:47 p.m.: Just days after he became the fifth player in Red Sox history to hit 300 home runs, David Ortiz gets another. By doing so, he has now scored 1,000 runs in his career.
Ortiz also needs just three walks to reach 900.
The Red Sox are up 10-0 and looking for more.
End 5th, Red Sox 9-0: You can never say never, but this one is just about in the bags. Jon Lester with a nine-run lead on an absolute roll…just can’t see Cleveland making this one interesting.
Lester has recorded 13 straight outs since back-to-back hits with two outs in the first. The Indians haven’t really made any solid contact.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 9-0: Everyone remembers the highlight of the 2010 season was the incredible contributions of unheralded guys (Nava, McDonald, Kalish, Hall, etc.).
Drew Sutton is staking his claim as the next in line with an outstanding effort in this one. Sutton is now 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles after ripping another two-bagger in the fifth. It is his first three-hit game since he had one as an Indian last September.
End 4th, Red Sox 9-0: And then there’s Jon Lester, who is cruising. He has retired 10 in a row since Shelley (don’t call me Kelly, Jerry Remy!) Duncan singled in the first.
A nice play by Drew Sutton to the backhand got Lester one of the outs in the fourth. Sutton is 2-for-2 with a pair of runs and an RBI filling in for Youkilis.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 9-0: The cycle watch is on for Carl Crawford, who just stroked his second home run of the series and third of the year (all on the road) to open it up even more.
Crawford is a triple shy of becoming the 20th different player in team history to accomplish the feat. Bobby Doerr did it twice. John Valentin was the last to do so on June 6, 1996.
By the way, Crawford had never started a game in his career batting sixth. He did, however, get two at-bats replacing the No. 6 hitter in the past, picking up a home run and a stolen base in the process. Very small sample size, but maybe that would be a good place to put him. J.D. Drew certainly hasn’t done much.
End 3rd, Red Sox 8-0: Jon Lester has set down seven straight and has five strikeouts through three.
It makes such a huge difference when you can pitch with an eight-run lead. The Sox have scored fewer than six runs just once in Lester’s last seven starts.
Frank Herrmann is the new pitcher for the Indians. We’ll miss you, Mitch.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 8-0: Ho-hum, another RBI for Adrian Gonzalez. This time he rips a single into right to score Drew Sutton (he doubled to start the third).
Gonzalez entered the day leading all of baseball in hits (67, now 69), RBIs (now at 43) and doubles (16). He has 28 RBIs in May, putting him just two shy of becoming the 23rd Red Sox hitter since 1970 to reach 30 in a month.
Smart money says he’ll get there, and then some.
End 2nd, Red Sox 7-0: Some lofty totals early in this one. Seven runs on 10 hits for the Red Sox hitters, and four strikeouts already for Jon Lester.
Lester fans Austin Kearns and Lou Marson in an 11-pitch second. Lester’s season high for Ks is 11, his career high 13.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 7-0: Mitch Talbot survives a double, the second error in as many innings for right fielder Shin-Soo Choo and a walk to get through the second without any damage.
Carl Crawford rocketed one into the gap that Choo kicked around, allowing Crawford to scamper to third. Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked. Mike Cameron struck out to end it.
End 1st, Red Sox 7-0: We know Jon Lester has won six straight decisions, but we also know it hasn’t been all that pretty for him of late.
In his last three starts, Lester has given up 24 hits, 11 walks and has hit three batters. That’s 38 runners in just 17 1/3 innings, or more than two per frame.
That average goes down a bit after only two men reach in the first. Shin-Soo Choo and Shelley Duncan both singled with two outs. Lester works out of it with a strikeout of Matt LaPorta, but he has to stop working out of the stretch.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 7-0: The Dustin Pedroia two-run shot will be what people remember from the top of the first, but there was so much more to talk about.
Here is a quick summation for those of you who missed it.
After Pedroia made it 2-0, Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz singled. Jed Lowrie hit into a force at second base, putting runners at the corners. Carl Crawford followed with a line single to center to make it 3-0. Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed with a hit of his own and Lowrie came in when right fielder Shin-Soo Choo bobbled the ball.
A Mike Cameron sacrifice fly and Drew Sutton RBI single made it 6-0. Jacoby Ellsbury lined his second hit of the inning into center and Pedroia grounded a hit into left to plate Sutton.
That gives the Red Sox a team season high for scoring in one inning. Both Ellsbury and Pedroia go 2-for-2. Mitch Talbot throws 34 pitches, which was rather economical considering he faced 12 hitters.
Five Red Sox hitters swung at the first pitch and four of them had hits. Three others swung at the second pitch. Meaty, meaty offerings.
So while Josh Beckett can’t get any run support, Jon Lester has seven runs before he even throws a pitch. The lefty has been given plenty of breathing room during his personal six-game winning streak.
12:10 p.m.: It didn’t take long for Dustin Pedroia to make his presence felt. He followed a Jacoby Ellsbury single with his third home runs of the season. The Sox are still rallying and jumping on everything being offered up by Mitch Talbot.
11:24 a.m.: Although there is no immediate confirmation, the assumption is that Youkilis hurt his hand on that play in the seventh inning last night.
You might recall the situation. With two outs, Orlando Cabrera drew a walk against Josh Beckett. Matt LaPorta followed with a hard grounder down the line at third.
Youkilis made a fine diving stop. With Cabrera running on contact it might’ve prevented him from scoring all the way from first, as the ball would’ve rattled into the corner.
Youkilis rose to his feet and nearly beat Cabrera to the bag, but the runner was safe.
Not to strike fear into each and every one of you, but there was also a play at home in the ninth in which Youkilis was out on a force play and seemed to sustain some more hip pain. He slid across the plate and popped up with a grimace and his hand on the left side.
It seems as that will be an issue all year. Hopefully, the hand is not. For those of you wondering, this is not the same hand on which Youkilis needed surgery last year. That was his right thumb.
As for Drew Sutton, he has played all of 6 1/3 innings at third base in his career as a major leaguer. He has played the position 147 times in the minors.
10:46 a.m.: First we get word that J.D. Drew is out with a strained hammy, and now Kevin Youkilis has been scratched. He has a sore left hand from a dive he made in the field, according to early word.
Here is the new Red Sox lineup:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Mike Cameron, RF
Drew Sutton, 3B
10:09 a.m.: The word on J.D. Drew, benched against a right-hander, is that he has a strained right hamstring. Terry Francona told reporters he does not expect it to be a long-term thing, but wanted to give Drew a day off.
It might’ve happened on Drew’s dash into foul ground in the ninth inning last night. He made a nice running grab to help Jonathan Papelbon wrap up his ninth save, and looked a tad awkward going toward the low wall down the line.
8:53 a.m.: WAKE UP!!!
OK, now that we have your attention, let’s get ready for some baseball. Dustin Pedroia is back in the lineup for the Red Sox. Here is the batting order against Mitch Talbot:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Mike Cameron, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
7 a.m.: The Red Sox expect to have Dustin Pedroia back in the lineup Wednesday afternoon when they finish a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians.
Pedroia sat out Tuesday’s 4-2 win, a day after his tumble at second base that left him with a stinger in his left leg. Drew Sutton took Pedroia’s place.
Whoever ends up playing second base will be doing so behind Jon Lester, who will look to break out of a mini funk of his own. Lester has won six straight decisions, but has given up 14 runs on 24 hits and 11 walks in 17 1/3 innings over his last three outings.
The lefty is 3-1 in his career against Cleveland. He received a no-decision despite throwing seven scoreless innings at Progressive Field on April 7.
Mitch Talbot gets the ball for the Indians, who are now 19-5 at home. Talbot has been on the disabled list since April 12 with a right elbow strain. Prior to that, he went 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two starts, including a 4 1/3-inning effort against Boston on April 6.
First pitch is 12:05 p.m.
