Tigers Nuked--Sox Tie HR Mark

Following on last night's nail biting 2-1 victory, tonight's Sox performance was the most literal example of 'from one extreme to the other' you'll ever likely see on a baseball diamond. After five innings, the Sox were barely ahead, 5-4, the lead going back and forth between the teams. Then came the explosion! Already having hit three homers, the Sox sent eleven men to the plate in the 6th and scored eight runs, six of them on homers by Middlebrooks and Nava, Midd's being a slam. One of the other runs came on an RBI double by Papi, his 2,000th hit of his career. The two bagger was far from his only contribution of the evening, however. He also put a pair into the cheaps, passing Billy Williams for 47th place on the all-time home run list. He now has 427, and, assuming he plays at least a couple of more years, has a shot at the magical 500.
The eight homers in a single game tied a franchise record, originally set on July 4, 1977 against the Jays, also at Fenway. The twenty runs falls short of the team record for runs in a game, but, let's face it. Twenty runs is still twenty runs and a most impressive total nevertheless.  While it would be unreasonable to expect this type of onslaught to go beyond a single game, maintaining the hitting frenzy the team may be in the midst of would not be. They won't likely get 19 hits in a game against the Stripes, who they begin a series against tomorrow, but a healthy ten or twelve knocks would be a respectable total for a game. The Sox hitting spree was so all-inclusive, the only starter who failed to get at least one hit was Pedey, and he gave it a damn good shot. In the 5th, with the score tied for the last time in the game, he hit a hard rapidly sinking liner to left, the Tigers fielder barely snatching it above the surface of the grass. Since it plated a run, it counted as a sacfly and the Dustman got himself another ribbie.
Overall, the Hose hosed Detroit pitching for 19 hits, an even dozen of which were for extra bases, including the already mentioned eight round trippers. None of the Tigers hurlers was immune, and their final pitcher, Reed, got off the lightest only allowing a pair in a single inning.  Everyone else: avalanche! Just to show the 6th wasn't a total fluke, the Sox then tacked on another five in the 7th, compliments of the eight batters the Sox sent to the dish. The featured strokes of this inning were two-run shots by both Lavarnway and Papi, his second shot of the evening and a no-doubter as soon as he completed his swing.
Off the field , some news about a pair of pitchers. Bucky, a new daddy (congrats!), is set to join the team in New York. Former Sox set-up man, Daniel Bard was claimed off waivers by former Sox GM Theo Epstein for the Cubbies. Good luck, Danny. You do leave some fond memories here.