Final, Red Sox 6-3: Jonathan Papelbon threw the Tigers a bone in the ninth, just to make them feel a bit better about things.
A single and a double gets Detroit one run but that’s it, and Boston’s 12th win in 14 games is in the books. So, too, is Tim Wakefield’s 195th career win and 181st with the Red Sox, 11 behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young on the franchise’s all-time list.
We know you all want to get to the hockey game, and frankly so do I. So, thanks for following along. We will have Clay Buchholz against Andy Oliver, a lefty making his first start of the year, at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 6-2: Dustin Pedroia gets into the hit column with a two-out single and into the stolen base column for the 10th time this year (halfway to a career high), but he is left at second when Adrian Gonzalez cannot hold up on a curveball in the dirt.
Sox three outs from moving into first place in the A.L. East on their own. The Yankees play later tonight.
The guy to get those last three outs, or at least try, is Jonathan Papelbon in another non-save situation. He has had a ton of those it seems.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-2: Can’t say enough about the job Tim Wakefield has done the last two times out. Three runs allowed in 13 2/3 innings, and now just three outs from picking up career win No. 195.
Daniel Bard needed all of six pitches to get through the eighth. Perhaps they will give the ninth to someone else and have Jonathan Papelbon at the ready in case Detroit begins to threaten.
Daniel Schlereth is on to work the ninth for the Tigers. No more Charlie Furbush.
9:22 p.m.: That is it for Tim Wakefield. Daniel Bard, now rested, is on in relief.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-2: As great as it is for Red Sox fans to see Carl Crawford spray the ball all over the park, it is a wonderful development every time he draws a walk.
Crawford picked up just his eighth free pass of the season (third against lefties) with one out in the eighth. Unfortunately, he was caught stealing on a pickoff throw to first.
Josh Reddick struck out one batter later to end the inning. Can you believe it? Five straight innings without a run.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-2: Jacoby Ellsbury (say it with me) tied a major league record set countless times before with three putouts in the sixth.
His partner in crime this series, Carl Crawford, threatened to do the same by making the first two outs of the seventh. Josh Reddick then had to be a jerk about it and go and catch the last out.
That’s 12 outs recorded in the air for Wakefield. Pitch count? 83! We will see if he comes back out for the eighth.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-2: If you are so inclined, you can get up and stretch. That’s what they’re doing in Detroit right now, following another 1-2-3 inning for Charlie Furbush.
Tim Wakefield’s pitch count, a popular talking point tonight, is at 72 as he starts the seventh.
Terry Francona said that he was committed to NOT letting Wakefield go any longer than the seventh in his last game. I think he will have a longer leash this time around.
End 6th, Red Sox 6-2: Jacoby Ellsbury doing it all. Homers earlier in the game, his second in as many days, and makes a great diving grab to finish the sixth with a man on.
Since we are watching another young left-hander keep the Sox bats quiet, relatively speaking, it’s worth noting that another one will be pitching Saturday.
Andy Oliver, 23, will be making his first start of the season opposite Clay Buchholz. Oliver is replacing the injured Phil Coke in the rotation.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 6-2: Another quality at-bat against a left-hander for Josh Reddick, who was a .191 hitter vs. southpaws while at Pawtucket this year.
Reddick ripped a single to center off Charlie Furbush with one out in the sixth. Jarrod Saltalamacchia flew to left and Jacoby Ellsbury flew to right to strand Reddick.
In Jed Lowrie, Reddick, Saltalamacchia and Ellsbury, the Sox have four straight hitters whose first names begin with a J. After that it goes D, A, K, D, C.
Tom Hanks will star in a thriller that exposes the cryptic nature of the Boston batting order. In Paris.
End 5th, Red Sox 6-2: As long as Tim Wakefield remains in the rotation, or even if he goes back to the bullpen, the Red Sox have to be thrilled with the way Jarrod Saltalamacchia has taken to catching the knuckleball.
Salty has done a very, very good job of keeping the usual issues to a minimum. He did allow a third strike to get by him in the fifth, but recovered in time to get the putout at first and end the inning.
Wakefield has struck out two. He’ll go eight innings at this rate.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 6-2: When you strike out Carl Crawford in the midst of one of the hottest streaks in his career, you’re doing something right.
Charlie Furbush is thus far. He did give up a single to Adrian Gonzalez, but nothing more in the fifth.
Tim Wakefield, once again, has been incredibly economical. He is at 48 pitches as this one goes to the bottom of the fifth.
End 4th, Red Sox 6-2: Tim Wakefield’s first strikeout of the game ends the fourth.
I just tweeted what some might think is an interesting stat about Dustin Pedroia and Carl Crawford. Oh, you don’t follow me on Twitter? That stinks. You can right here and then you’ll know what the stat is.
OK, I’ll tell you. Just found it interesting that Crawford is now hitting .246, one point ahead of Pedroia’s .245. On April 22, their gap in average was 179 points in favor of Pedroia.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 6-2: Some quality stuff from Charlie Furbush in the fourth. He sets down the Sox in order, and the Bruins are about to drop the puck.
Wait, what game am I blogging?
End 3rd, Red Sox 6-2: Even when he issues a leadoff walk and throws a wild pitch and all that kind of stuff, Tim Wakefield still motors through innings, and that’s one reason we love him.
With the Sox offense on such a roll, it means that much more to get the Tigers’ pitchers back out there and give them no time to reset from this endless barrage.
Wakefield ends the third with a runner on third, and Charlie Furbush is on in relief of Rick Porcello. Furbush is a lefty, and like Adam Wilk yesterday will try to settle things down for a bit.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 6-2: With Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello, as well as a capable Brad Penny, the Tigers have the makings of a very good rotation.
But the Sox won their first meeting with Verlander and are making his younger teammates look like meat.
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a solo homer, Kevin Youkilis a two-run double and Carl Crawford a two-run homer, part of a four-hour top of the third that has Porcello on the way out. It’ll be soon enough.
That’s two home runs in two games for Ellsbury. Crawford is 9-for-11 with two homers, two triples, two doubles and seven RBIs in the No. 6 spot. Boston has outscored its opponents 38-6 since the third inning Tuesday in Cleveland.
Wow.
End 2nd, Tigers 2-1: In one bit of pitching news, Tim Wakefield just allowed the 398th home run of his career, one behind Gaylord Perry, who is 12th on the all-time list.
It was a hanging knuckler that Jhonny Peralta hammered to left.
In another bit of pitching news, Bobby Jenks threw a scoreless start for Pawtucket tonight. Well, it was just one inning, but he did start the game. He will make one more of those rehab outings and then come back to Boston.
Mid 2nd, 1-1: The Red Sox stranded two runners in the second, but they were given one big positive.
Josh Reddick, as aggressive as any hitter on the roster, worked an eight-pitch walk against Rick Porcello. Reddick did a nice job to foul off a few pitches and also laid off some offerings at which he used to hack away.
The long at-bat helped Boston bump Porcello’s pitch count up to 39, a rather hefty total for just two frames. Always something to keep in mind when you are facing Detroit and its struggling bullpen.
End 1st, 1-1: Plenty of similarities between the top and bottom of the first.
Leadoff hit by a center fielder, who promptly steals second base, and then a fly out by a second baseman batting second.
That’s where the similarities end, except on the scoreboard. The Tigers also get a run when Miguel Cabrera hits a two-out RBI single up the middle.
Tim Wakefield gets out of it when old pal Victor Martinez hits an easy comebacker.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 1-0: Like the Red Sox need any help scoring.
After a bloop single to right field by Jacoby Ellsbury (now 4-for-4 against Rick Porcello), the speedster steals second, moves to third on a grounder to second and then scores when Porcello uncorks a wild pitch.
Jim Leyland has to be kicking himself. Or smoking. Either way, not pleased.
For Ellsbury, he is now tied atop the MLB leaderboards with 18 steals.
7:06 p.m.: Rick Porcello’s first pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury is a strike. Off and running.
6:53 p.m.: Terry Francona, ever careful not to get too far ahead of himself, went out of his way to stress that Rick Porcello could have plenty to do with whether or not the Red Sox offense continues its torrid pace.
On his current run, Porcello has performed well against some quality offenses, namely the Yankees and Indians. He had 11 days between starts before dominating the Pirates his last time out, so he is rather fresh.
On the other end, Tim Wakefield should be able to do what Alfredo Aceves did yesterday in terms of pitch count. Both are being stretched out at about the same rate, and Aceves threw a career-high 98 pitches. Wakefield was taken out of his solid start against the Cubs on Sunday after just 76 pitches, but that was about as far as the Sox wanted him to go. The fact that they got 6 2/3 innings out of it is remarkable.
Wakefield, provided he is effective, will get to throw a few more pitches than that tonight.
5:54 p.m.: The news on J.D. Drew is that he may be available to hit off the bench tonight. Perhaps he will be in there Sunday afternoon against Justin Verlander. The Tigers have a lefty going Saturday, so we expect Mike Cameron to get the start.
John Lackey threw two simulated innings in the pen and will begin a rehab assignment next week. He is still on track to return to the rotation in the first week of June, specifically the 5th against Oakland.
Tim Wakefield will be trying to get closer to that 200th win tonight. It’s interesting to note that he is 10-3 with a 3.51 ERA in his last 14 starts against Detroit. He has also been a much better pitcher on the road of late, sporting a 4.26 ERA in his last 17 outings, compared to 5.71 at home during the same span.
Wakefield is quietly approaching another Red Sox milestone. He needs 33 strikeouts to become the second player to record 2,000 strikeouts in the uniform. Roger Clemens is the first. Chances are Wakefield won’t reach that number tonight.
4:57 p.m.: Here is the rundown tonight on NESN:
5:30 p.m.: Red Sox First Pitch
6:00 p.m.: Red Sox GameDay LIVE
6:30 p.m.: Bruins Face-Off LIVE
7:00 p.m.: Red Sox vs. Tigers
10:00 p.m.: W.B. Mason Extra Innings LIVE
10:30 p.m.: Granite City Electric Presents Red Sox Final LIVE
10:45 p.m.: Ace Tickets Bruins Overtime LIVE
11:00 p.m.: NESN Daily
For those who will be utilizing their remotes and their mouse, please follow Doug Flynn’s Bruins Live Blog and all of Doug’s pre- and postgame content. I mean, don’t abandon me entirely, but certainly understandable, and smart, to be checking out Doug tonight.
Obviously, that schedule above can change dramatically based on how these games progress. The B’s are on VERSUS.
4:26 p.m.: Figured that one reason Ramon Santiago is playing second base is because of his success against Tim Wakefield (5-for-11, HR, six RBIs).
Turns out, Santiago may be the starting second baseman going forward. Detroit has traded Scott Sizemore, who started Thursday’s series opener, for Oakland lefty David Purcey.
The Tigers need the help in the pen, hence the maneuver.
3:36 p.m.: Take a gold star away from me. Had to be reminded by a buddy of mine that the last time the Red Sox faced Rick Porcello, some things happened.
I know you are all on the side of Kevin Youkilis in that brawl at Fenway Park in August 2009, but you might recall that he risked, and received, a suspension (five games) when the team was in the thick of a playoff chase. Youk got some flack for that, although it’s hard to blame a guy for a heat-of-the-moment reaction like that.
The Sox won that game and were 5.5 games out of first and 3.5 ahead in the wild card race.
But my thought on the whole thing was, good for Porcello. He was 20. Pitching in Fenway Park. And exacting revenge against one of the more beloved Red Sox figures. You have to give him credit for that, even if it was a mandate from above. Kid showed he had some big ones, and was also able to avoid the helmet toss by Youkilis, not my favorite maneuver in such instances.
Anyway, it’s been almost two years since Porcello has seen this lineup. Surely a few guys remember that night.
One side note: Victor Martinez nearly charged Porcello after being buzzed by the young righty in the first inning (the fight was in the bottom of the second). Martinez, of course, is Porcello’s first baseman tonight.
3:13 p.m.: Good afternoon, people. I heard there’s another sporting event going on in Boston tonight that may grab some attention.
Well, I’ll do my best to keep 100 percent of my focus on Red Sox baseball. Admittedly, it won’t be easy. So far, so good…here are the lineups for tonight’s game:
Red Sox
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Carl Crawford, LF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Josh Reddick, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Tigers
Austin Jackson, CF
Ramon Santiago, 2B
Ryan Raburn, LF
Miguel Cabrera, DH
Victor Martinez, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Alex Avila, C
Casper Wells, RF
Brandon Inge, 3B
9:30 a.m.: It will be a matchup for the ages, literally, when the Red Sox take on the Detroit Tigers on Friday night in the second of four straight at Comerica Park.
Tim Wakefield will be making his fourth start of the season for the Red Sox. At 44 years, 298 days old, he is almost exactly twice the age of Tigers starter Rick Porcello, who is 22 years, 152 days old. Both hurlers are coming in on a high note.
Wakefield tossed 6 2/3 sensational innings against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, picking up his 194th career win and his 180th with the Red Sox. Porcello, meanwhile, is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA over his last six starts.
The younger of the two will be looking to slow down the scorching Boston bats. The Sox have scored 14 runs in consecutive games and have outscored their opponents 32-4 over a span of 23 1/2 innings. Carl Crawford enters this one on an 8-for-9 streak.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
