BOSTON –– A night after openly wondering why the Red Sox wouldn’t play him every game, Mike Lowell continued to show why his bat remains a must-see weapon in the team’s offense.

Lowell helped the Sox to an 8-2 thumping of the Tigers at Fenway Park Wednesday night by knocking out three more hits. Included was a line-drive solo homer in the second inning, his 14th of the season and third in two games. He added another RBI in the fifth inning when his cue-ball blooper fell over pitcher Freddy Dolsi’s head and just in front of shortstop Adam Everett for a fortunate single.

The three hits continued what has been a consistently productive season for Lowell. He boosted his average over .300 (.303), one of only two Red Sox (Kevin Youkilis, .311) to hit that high. Since returning from the disabled list on July 17 after a flare-up in his hip, Lowell is hitting .393 (24-for-61) with 4 homers and 18 RBI in 18 games.

Those are numbers that would normally cement someone in the lineup. But the Red Sox are playing it cool with Lowell and are clearly afraid to place too much of a load on his hip.

"I’m always prepared to play," he said before Wednesday’s game.

Lowell split early from the Red Sox clubhouse after the game but his teammates were more than singing his praises. They see that he’s not griping, even after trading deadline moves added Victor Martinez and Casey Kotchman to a catcher-first base-third base-DH mix that also includes Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, Youkilis and Lowell. That’s six players for four nightly spots in the lineup.

"Mikey wants to play, of course," said Varitek. "Mikey wants to be out there every day. You don’t play this game not to want to be out there."

Josh Beckett, the Sox’ winning pitcher (14-4), has played with Lowell in both Florida and now Boston. He knows of few other better team players.

"Mikey, he’s a special guy. I’ve been fortunate to spend my whole career with him, and the professionalism, it’s just contagious. You can’t help but take something away from that," said Beckett.

The Red Sox saw Lowell gut his way through spring training and get off to a strong start in the first part of the season after his off-season hip surgery. They also see him biting his tongue when he’s not on Terry Francona’s lineup card.

"I’ve heard people say they’d put him in their all-time tough-guy team. He’s a special guy," said Beckett. "There’s not a whole lot of guys that come along that have his kind of talent that still want to work and get better every time."

For the next few days, anyways, Lowell should see his name in the middle of the lineup. Youkilis began serving a five-game suspension Wednesday for his role in Tuesday’s bench clearing fracas. Chris Woodward may chip in at third base.

Lowell says he understands why Youkilis charged the mound after being hit by Rick Porcello. It was the second time in two games the team’s leading hitter was struck by a Tiger pitcher. Detroit star Miguel Cabrera was also hit twice in two days, a fact Lowell said he understood as well.

"I don’t have a problem with what Detroit did because I understand Miguel Cabrera. He gets hit and breaks his hand and is out of the lineup, their playoff chances take a monster hit. I don’t have a problem with them sending a message," he said. "However, Youk got smoked twice in consecutive days so you can’t get upset with him either. The fact that it happened on consecutive days heightens things a little bit."

Without Youkilis, the Red Sox will dip into their bench. Finding an available option like Lowell will make writing his name down one of Francona’s easiest choices.