Sox toy with Tigers

DETROIT (AP) — David Ortiz homered while Hanley Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts added two-run doubles to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 7-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Boston improved to 2-2 on its eight-game trip.

J.D. Martinez hit his 30th homer for the Tigers.

Daniel Norris (2-2) gave up three hits in a 39-pitch first inning, including Ramirez’s double that staked Joe Kelly (4-6) to an early lead.

Ortiz made it 4-0 in the third with a drive to deep right field, his 22nd of the season. It was his 20th homer at Comerica Park, the most by a visiting player in the 15 seasons since it opened. He averages a home run almost every 10 at-bats here in his career.

Norris, one of three left-handers acquired July 30 in a trade that sent All-Star David Price to Toronto, allowed four hits and a run in 7 1-3 innings at Baltimore on Sunday in his Tigers’ debut.

His first game before his new hometown fans lasted just 3 1-3 innings. He allowed five runs and nine hits with three strikeouts.

Martinez made it 5-2 in the fourth with a two-run homer into the Red Sox bullpen but Bogaerts restored Kelly’s five-run lead with a sixth-inning double off reliever Buck Farmer.

The Tigers got runners to second and third with one out in the sixth to chase Kelly but reliever Robbie Ross stranded them by striking out Rajai Davis and getting Nick Castellanos to ground out.

Boston’s Justin Masterson loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth but Koji Uehara killed any hopes of a rally and earned his 25th save in 27 chances by striking out Jose Iglesias and getting Ian Kinsler to meekly ground out.

Kelly, in his first career start against Detroit, allowed seven hits and struck out seven — including a stretch of five straight — with two walks.

On the move

The Red Sox traded INF Mike Napoli and sent cash to Texas just before the start of Friday’s game, forcing a late shift in the lineup. Pablo Sandoval, originally given a night off, played third and took Napoli’s spot in the order while Travis Shaw moved from third to first. Napoli, one of several players reportedly placed on revocable waivers by the club after the July 31 trade deadline, hit .207 with 14 homers and 40 RBIs in 98 games this season. He’s a free agent this offseason.

Cross words

Fox Sports Detroit cameras captured a dustup between Tigers SS Iglesias and C James McCann in the dugout midway through the sixth inning. Iglesias shoved his teammate before the two were

separated.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Boston: OF Mookie Betts could return to the lineup as early as Tuesday, when the Red Sox begin a two-game series at Miami. Manager John Farrell said Betts, who’s been on the 7-day concussion DL since July 29, has been cleared to play but the club still is waiting for Major League Baseball to receive administrative paperwork confirming his passage of the league’s concussion protocol.

Detroit: Manager Brad Ausmus said he expects RHP Alfredo Simon to start Saturday night. The club pushed his start back three days to allow him to shake off the effects of a groin injury that forced him to leave a July 26 win at Boston.

Up next

Simon (10-6, 4.55) looks for his third straight victory against Boston LHP Wade Miley (8-9, 4.55). Miley has gone six starts since his last win.

PawSox stadium might be in limbo

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Senate president is refusing to call for a special legislative session in the fall to consider a proposal for a Pawtucket Red Sox stadium in Providence, which would leave the project in limbo until at least January.

The House speaker says lawmakers are close to finalizing an agreement.

Even if a proposal emerges in the next few weeks, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed said she wouldn’t consider a special session, and she’s also not participating in the negotiations. “At this point, there’s not urgency regarding a ballpark,” Paiva Weed, a Democrat, said on Thursday.

The full legislature reconvenes in January.

House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said the House would be prepared to come back into session early if a proposal is ready and supported by the public.

Mattiello has been suggesting the possibility of a special session since June, as the legislative session was drawing to a close without a PawSox deal.

Mattiello and state officials, including Gov. Gina Raimondo, have been negotiating behind closed doors with the owners of the Triple-A franchise to come up with a new proposal to build a ballpark on riverfront property owned by the state since the team’s original proposal asking for $120 million in state subsidies over 30 years was rejected.

Paiva Weed said she has been purposely recusing herself.

“It is more appropriately, in my opinion, a function of the executive branch,” she said. But Mattiello said it’s the constitutional responsibility of the Speaker and the House of Representatives to participate in all matters involving state appropriations.

“The Senate President is free to define her role in any way she deems appropriate,” Mattiello said.

In May, Mattiello hired Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist as a consultant to evaluate the proposal. Zimbalist, who is being paid $225 per hour, has consulted for the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball since 2005.

The commissioner oversees some areas of the minor leagues.

The team’s ownership group has known throughout the negotiation process that the timing would be decided by the legislature and governor, said PawSox spokeswoman Patti Doyle.

“Nevertheless, we remained focused on renegotiating an acceptable agreement with the state, recognizing that the timing of the legislative review is not within our control,” Doyle said.