Seattle Mariners (43-57) @ Boston Red Sox (61-37)
Michael Pineda (8-6, 3.24) @ Tim Wakefield (5-3, 4.80)
1:35 PM EDT | Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
TV: NESN, TBS RADIO: WEEI 850, WWZN 1510
GAME NOTES
The Red Sox send 44-year-od Tim Wakefield to the mound today. The Mariners send 22-year-old Michael Pineda. Pineda, an All-Star this year, was 3 years old when Wakefield made his major league debut for the Pirates on July 31, 1992. Pineda has had a very good year for the Mariners and may be one of the front runners for rookie of the year. He made his debut on April 5 and has since gone 8-6 with a 3.25 ERA. He has held opposing batters to a .202 average and has 199 strikeouts and only 38 walks. The Red Sox were able to get to fellow All-Star Felix Hernandez on Friday, hopefully they can do the same to Pineda.
INJURY REPORT
Seattle:Erik Bedard, injured left knee, (Placed on 15-day DL 6/29)
Boston: Clay Buchholz, lower back strain (Placed on 15-day DL June 19, retroactive to June 17); Bobby Jenks, strained back (placed on 15-day DL 7/16), Jon Lester, strained left latissimus (placed on 15-day DL July 6, scheduled to return 7/25); Jed Lowrie, right shoulder injury (Placed on 15-day DL on June 17)
PLAYER OF THE DAY
The expansion draft for the Seattle Mariners took place on November 5, 1976. The Mariners selected four players from the Red Sox that day: outfielder Luis Delgado and pitchers Steve Burke, Rick Jones, and Dick Pole. Pole made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 1973. In 1975, he nearly suffered a career-ending injury when a line drive came back and hit him in face. He suffered a broken jaw and damaged the retina in his eye, which never fully recovered; he eventually lost 90% of his vision in that eye. He recovered in time to pitch in Game 5 of the 1975 World Series. Pole spent 1977-78 with the Mariners before they released him before the 1979 season. He served as the major-league pitching coach for the Cubs, Giants, Indians, Expos and Reds and the bullpen coach for the Red Sox.
Line-ups will be posted in the comments when they are available, feel free to add them if they aren’t there.