Boston 20, Detroit 4

Well, that was quite a game. And it's amazing how quickly some things can change when something like this happens.

• As noted on Monday, the week began with the Tigers leading Major League baseball in run differential, by a pretty healthy margin, 165-140 over second place Boston. When yesterday started, the lead was 29 runs, 167-138. Last night saw a 32-run swing, and the Red Sox now have the best run differential in baseball, 154-151 over Detroit.



• Monday, the Tigers had the best pythagorean winning percentage in the AL at .621 to Boston's .601. This morning, Boston's .6084 is just better than Detroit's .6082, as the Red Sox now have the AL's best pythagorean record.



• Detroit's runs allowed per game jumped from 3.90 (2nd in the AL) to 3.97 (4th in the AL) in one game. Their 140th.



• Boston passed Detroit in runs scored, and runs scored/game.



• No matter what they do in NY, the Red Sox offense for the week is bound to end up looking decent. They scored 2 runs in the first two games against the Tigers but ended up averaging over 7 runs per game in the series.



• The Red Sox' eight home runs tied the franchise record for one game. The first time, seven of them were solos, as they ended up beating Toronto 9-6. (Yes, they hit 8 home runs and only scored 9 runs.) Butch Hobson, Bernie Carbo, Fred Lynn (2), George Scott (2), Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski. They actually trailed that game 6-5 before Lynn, Rice and Yastrzemski went deep back-to-back-to-back in the 8th. Last night, it was Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Will Middlebrooks, Ryan Lavarnway, Daniel Nava, Mike Napoli and David Ortiz (2). And a lot more base-runners.

And congratulations are in order for David Ortiz, who collected his 1999th (HR), 2000th (2B) and 2001st (HR) hits in the game. He hit the milestones in style, going 3-5 with 10 total bases and four runs batted in. In fact, since extending his hitless slump through the Baltimore series a week ago, he's now hitting .381/.500/.762/1.262 with 7.27 runs created and 13.97 RC/25 outs in his last six games. Not done yet, apparently...