Tampa Bay Rays (83-66) @ Boston Red Sox (86-63)
James Shields (15-10, 2.70) @ Josh Beckett (12-5, 2.49)
7:10 PM EDT | Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
TV: NESN, MLB Network RADIO: WEEI 850, WWZN 1510

GAME NOTES

With 13 games left in the regular season the Red Sox have to right the ship immediately or they are in danger of not making the playoffs. Hopefully their pitching weakness will be corrected in part by the return of Josh Beckett to the mound. Beckett has been magnificent against the Rays this year, owning a 2-0 record in 17 innings pitched against them, surrendering only two infield hits and no walks against 12 strikeouts.

Hurling for the Rays tonight is “Complete Game” James Shields. Let’s hope Shields is getting tired: he leads the Majors with 11 complete games, has gone at least 8 innings in 6 of his last 7 starts, and has exceeded his career-high in innings pitched with 226. Shields is 1-8 lifetime at Fenway with a 6.99 ERA, his lone win coming on April 17, 2010.

Lineups

Boston Red Sox

  1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
  2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
  3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
  4. David Ortiz, DH
  5. Josh Reddick, RF
  6. Marco Scutaro, SS
  7. Carl Crawford, LF
  8. Jason Varitek, C
  9. Mike Aviles, 3B

Tampa Bay Rays

  1. Desmond Jennings, LF
  2. B.J. Upton, CF
  3. Evan Longoria, 3B
  4. Casey Kotchman, 1B
  5. Johnny Damon, DH
  6. Ben Zobrist, 2B
  7. Matt Joyce, RF
  8. John Jaso, C
  9. Reid Brignac, SS

INJURY REPORT

Boston: Clay Buchholz, lower back strain (placed on 15-day DL June 19, retroactive to June 17); J.D. Drew, left shoulder impingement, broken finger (placed on 15-day DL July 26, placed on 60-day DL September 13); Erik Bedard, left knee, left lat (day to day, likely to miss one start); Jed Lowrie, bruised nerve in left shoulder (day-to-day); Kevin Youkilis, left hip bursitis and sports hernia (day-to-day)

Tampa Bay: Alex Cobb, thoracic outlet syndrome (placed on the 15-day DL August 7); Sam Fuld, strained right wrist tendon (day-to-day)

Fun Facts

– Jacoby Ellsbury snapped his 18-game hitting streak last night. It was Ellsbury’s fourth career hitting streak of 18 games or more.

– According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Josh Beckett is the second starter in the live-ball era to pitch at least 8 innings in two starts against one team in a season and to surrender at most only one hit and one walk in each start.  Dazzy Vance of the Dodgers was the first, performing the feat in 1925 against the Phillies.

– On September 16, 1965, Dave Morehead pitched a no-hitter to beat the Indians 2-0. Morehead’s no hitter would be the last one thrown by the Red Six until Hideo Nomo achieved the feat in 2001.

– And for today’s Totally Untrue Fun Fact: Evan Longoria went on a four-month quest to chase down the fan who stole his cap. The famous commercial was not an advertisement for New Era but was a highlight of Evan’s new reality series “Dude, Where’s My Cap?”