Boston Red Sox (5-10) @ Oakland Athletics (8-8)
John Lackey (1-1, 15.85) vs. Brett Anderson (0-1, 2.29)
10:05 PM EDT | Oakland Coliseum (Oakland, California)
TV: NESN RADIO: WEEI 850, SBN 1510
INJURY REPORT
Boston: Matt Albers, strained lat muscle (placed on 15-day DL 4/8, currently on rehab in Pawtucket)
Oakland: Andrew Bailey, strained right forearm (placed on 15-day DL 3/30, retroactive to 3/22); Dallas Braden, stiff left shoulder (placed on 15-day DL 4/18, retroactive to 4/17); Michael Wuertz strained left hamstring (placed on 15-day DL 4/6)
GAME NOTES
After a long absence, John Lackey returns to the mound tonight against the A’s. To say that Lackey has struggled this season so far would be an understatement, but he has excellent career numbers against the A’s. Lackey has started a season’s worth of games (31) against the A’s in his career totaling 202 IP; he has allowed only 68 runs with 151 strikeouts in those games. The Red Sox starters were superb over the weekend as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, and Josh Beckett all turned in solid outings. Additionally, the bullpen has started to roll, allowing only 1 run to score in the last three games. Hopefully, Lackey can keep the pitching staff rolling out west.
LINEUPS
Boston
Lowrie SS
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Cameron RF
Crawford LF
Saltalamacchia C
McDonald CF
Oakland
Crisp CF
Barton 1B
DeJesus RF
Willingham LF
Matsui DH
Suzuki C
Ellis 2B
Kouzmanoff 3B
Pennington SS
PLAYER OF THE DAY
The Athletics moved to Oakland from Kansas City (and before that Philadelphia) before the 1968 season. On May 27, 1968 the Red Sox made their first trip to Oakland to play the A’s. Gary Bell was the Red Sox starter for that game. Bell had a solid 12-year major league career from 1958 to 1969. He came up with the Indians and spent 10 years in Cleveland before being traded to the Red Sox on June 4, 1967. He appeared in 64 games, 51 starts, for the Red Sox posting a 3.13 ERA in 364.2 innings pitched.
On Saturday, during the Red Sox vs. Angels game at 9:05, Fire Brand will be hosting a live chat. We will be joined by Angels blogger Garrett Wilson of Monkey With a Halo. Please join us and in the meantime check out Garrett’s site, www.monkeywithahalo.com to learn about the Sox’ next opponent.