--3B Mike Lowell took batting practice before the game, and his hip felt well enough that he's hoping to be in Friday's lineup as a designated hitter. The plan is for Lowell to DH on Friday and then play at third base in Sunday's game. Lowell has missed the past seven games because of a partial tear in his right hip labrum, and he is hoping to play through the discomfort for the rest of the season.
--SS Gil Velazquez had his contract purchased from Class AAA Pawtucket and was added to the Red Sox's active roster. The 28-year-old batted .260 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs in 101 games for Pawtucket during the 2008 season and played shortstop, first base, second base, third base and left field during the minor league season. Velazquez made his major league debut when he pinch-ran for SS Alex Cora in the bottom of the sixth inning after enduring 11 seasons of minor league ball. "When we were talking about (Julio) Lugo, and having a bump in the road when things weren't going well, we asked Gil to go down to Fort Myers to the Instructional League and he agreed to it," manager Terry Francona said. "The more we talked about it, if something happened in the playoffs and we needed to activate Gil, then he'd need to come from Fort Myers, never being around us or the major leagues, so we decided to bring Gil here."
--RHP Bartolo Colon was moved from the suspended list to the restricted list to make room on the 40-man roster for SS Gil Velazquez. The 35-year-old right-hander was put on the suspended list without pay Sept. 19 after leaving the team for the Dominican Republic, and he is officially done with the Sox for the season.
--LHP Jon Lester improved his record to 16-6, which marks the most wins by a Sox left-hander since Bruce Hurst notched 18 wins in 1988. Only three left-handers in Sox history have a better winning percentage than Lester's .727 mark this season (with a minimum of 20 decisions): Bruce Hurst with a .750 percentage (18-6) in 1988, Mel Parnell with a .781 percentage (25-7) in 1949 and Dutch Leonard with a .792 percentage (19-2) in 1914. "I felt really comfortable with myself as a pitcher mechanically and confidence-wise," said Lester when asked about this season. "I felt like I've kept building."
--2B Dustin Pedroia moved into sole possession of fifth place on Boston's single-season hit list when he rapped his 211th hit on an infield grounder in the fifth inning. The hit allowed Pedroia to move past Wade Boggs' 1983 hit total. Boggs and Jim Rice are next up on the list in third and fourth place with 213 and 214 hits collected in 1978 and 1988.
BY THE NUMBERS: 5 -- One-run losses that the Sox suffered at Tropicana Field this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're fine. We've just got to keep on playing. I never noticed the difference between winning the division and the wild card. As long as you're in, you're in." -- DH David Ortiz.
