Last night in Detroit, the Boston Red Sox got a dominating effort from Josh Beckett as he held the Detroit Tigers hitless for 6 2/3 innings in a 10-5 win.
Beckett’s stuff last night was downright nasty. He had great velocity and command of all of his pitches. It was quite surprising to see him come back out after a 23 minute wait that saw the Red Sox put up 6 runs. Although I highly suspect it was to give him a chance to plunk Gerald Laird who had tried to break up the no-no with a bunt in the 6th inning, which is a no-no in the unwritten rules of baseball.
While David Ortiz only had one hit last night, he swung the bat well. Of course that one hit was 2-run double in the 6-run 8th inning. One of his outs went 420 feet to dead center in Comerica Park, a ball which would have been out of every other ballpark. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Big Papi.
There were also some milestone moments for a few of the Red Sox players last night.
J.D. Drew’s home run in the 1st inning was the 200th of his career while Mike Lowell’s single in the 6th was the 1500th hit of his career. Rocco Baldelli also added the 500th hit of his career.
The Red Sox will go for the sweep this afternoon at 1:05 PM with Tim Wakefield taking on Dontrelle Willis.
Beckett carries no-hitter into the seventh in a dominating performance [Providence Journal]
Tiger tamer [Boston Globe]
Josh Beckett spins gem [Boston Herald]
Beckett goes for history . . . his way [Providence Journal]
Lowell thrown out after his big hit [Boston Globe]
No-hitter lost, Josh Beckett still locates key win [Boston Herald]
Lowell recalls his Ortiz-like slump [Providence Journal]
Sense of order has been restored [Boston Globe]
Waiting on David Ortiz [Boston Herald]
Lowrie aiming to take batting practice at Fenway this weekend [Providence Journal]
Brad Penny tops trade talks again [Boston Herald]
Smoltz sounds off on Braves’ release of Glavine [Providence Journal]
Bullpen the backbone of Red Sox [RedSox.com]
Smoltz speaks out on behalf of Glavine [Brownie Points]
Five Things We Learned: As Beckett Goes, So Will the Red Sox [Rob Bradford – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if the enemy papers are more your flavor, you can check out the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press websites.
