Lowell hits 3 HRs for PawSox in win over Toledo Mud Hens

Pawtucket's Mike Lowell is greeted by Lars Anderson at home plate after hitting one of his three home runs at Fifth Third Field, a record for a visiting player, as Hens catcher Max St-Pierre watches. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

After his team's 10-6 loss to Pawtucket Tuesday night, Mud Hens manager Larry Parrish had only one question.

“When is Mike Lowell getting called up?” he said after Lowell, playing in his fourth rehab game with Pawtucket Tuesday, made a little Fifth Third Field history in his first appearance in Toledo since 1998.

Lowell slammed three home runs to lead the Red Sox to a 10-6 victory over the Mud Hens, snapping the team's four-game win streak.

Lowell is the first visiting player to hit three home runs in a game at the Hens' nine-year-old home; four Toledo players have turned that trick. The 36-year-old Lowell's hit three of five home runs hit by Pawtucket Tuesday night, also a Fifth Third Field record.

“A night like this is special, no matter what level,” said Lowell, who was the Mud Hens' ice cream strikeout player last night. “I'll take this any time. Toledo has good memories for me. My first game in Triple-A was in Toledo [in 1997], and I think I hit a home run. So Toledo has treated me well.

“I know the fans wanted me to strike out to get some ice cream, but maybe next time.”

A four-time All-Star and MVP of the 2007 World Series, Lowell has been sidelined by right hip troubles this year. He played in just 31 games for Boston, hitting .213 with a pair of home runs and 12 RBIs before heading to the disabled list June 24.

Lowell went 4-for-4 in a game at Columbus July 24, but Tuesday the 36-year-old displayed that power that has helped him hit 220 home runs in an 11-year big-league career.

With two outs and Ryan Kalish at third base in the first inning, Lowell took two balls from Toledo starter Charlie Furbush before slamming the next pitch off the scoreboard in left field for a home run.

Leading off the third, Lowell smacked Furbush's first pitch of the inning over the fence down the left-field line for another homer.

After flying out in the fifth — following a 10-pitch battle with Furbush — Lowell drove a 1-1 pitch from Toledo reliever Fu-Te Ni well over the fence in left-center in the eighth for his third homer of the day, a two-run shot that was part of a three-run inning.

“He can flat-out hit a fastball, can't he?” Parrish said of Lowell, who has eight hits in 18 Triple-A at-bats this season, good for a .444 average. “Furbush wasn't very sharp. He had trouble locating his fastball, and his breaking ball was a little lazy.”

The Hens tied the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first when Justin Henry singled, Brent Dlugach lined an RBI triple to deep center and Casper Wells beat out a grounder into the hole at shortstop for a run-scoring single.

But the Red Sox took the lead for good in the second with three more runs. Ryan Shealy singled to center and Mark Wagner lined a homer, his third of the year, off the base of the left-field scoreboard. Aaron Bates followed with a single, Gil Velazquez doubled, and Kalish hit a sacrifice fly that scored Bates.

In the fourth inning Kalish hammered Pawtucket's fourth home run in as many innings, a line drive to deep center for his fifth round-tripper of the year.

Toledo scored twice in the seventh thanks to a two-run, two-out double by Ryan Strieby, but that was trumped by the three-run eighth by the Red Sox.

Ben Guez slammed a two-run homer in the eighth to complete the scoring.

NOTES: The triple by Dlugach in the first gives him a seven-game hit streak. … Henry collected two singles and a double as well as a walk in five plate appearances last night. Henry has been red-hot at the plate the last three games, going 8-for-11 (.727) and reaching base in 9-of-12 plate appearances. … Audy Ciriaco left yesterday's game in the top of the eighth inning because of a wrist injury. His status is day-to-day.

Contact John Wagner at:jwagner@theblade.comor 419-724-6481.