Baltimore Orioles (19-21) @ Boston Red Sox (21-20)
Zach Britton (5-2, 2.42) @ Tim Wakefield (0-1, 5.40)
7:10 PM EDT |Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
TV: NESN RADIO: WEEI 850, WWZN 1510
INJURY REPORT
Baltimore: Derek Lee, strained oblique (Day-to-day, left Monday’s game in the third inning); Brian Matusz, strained back (Placed on the 15 day DL on April 3rd retroactive to March 30th);Justin Duchscherer, hip (Placed on the 60 day DL March 29th)
Boston: John Lackey, strained elbow (Placed on the 15 day DL May 16th, retroactive May 12th) to Marco Scutaro, strained left oblique (Placed on the 15 day DL May 8th); Dan Wheeler, strained calf (Placed on the 15 day DL May 5th); Bobby Jenks, bicep soreness (Placed on 15 day DL May 5th, retroactive to May 2nd)
GAME NOTES
First a six run deficit. Now a left handed phenom. The Boston Red Sox overcame the first of these challenges last night at Fenway Park, they look to conquer the latter tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. Said phenom is twenty-three year old Zach Britton, who has already beaten the Sox once this year. The young lefty has been the pride of Baltimore’s rotation so far, carrying a 5-2 record with a 2.42 ERA. As John Lackey heads to the disabled list with a strained right elbow (or perhaps a strained psyche), Tim Wakefield gets a chance to take his place in the rotation. Wakefield has made two starts this season, the last on May sixth against Minnesota. He went four and third innings giving up six runs and walking four. J.D. Drew and Carl Crawford both get days off against the lefty. Mike Cameron starts in right field and Darnell McDonald will patrol right field. They will bat seventh and eighth respectively. Finally above .500 on the season and led by the torrid bat of Adrian Gonzalez, the Sox look to keep rolling tonight and complete a two game sweep of the Orioles.
Lineups
Red Sox
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrain Gonzalez, 1B
- Kevin Youkilis, 3B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Jed Lowrie, SS
- Mike Cameron, RF
- Darnell McDonald, LF
- Jarood Saltalamacchia, C
Baltimore
- Robert Andino, 2B
- Nick Markakis, RF
- Adam Jones, CF
- Vladimir Guerrero, DH
- Luke Scott, LF
- Mark Reynolds, 3B
- Matt Wieters, C
- J.J. Hardy, SS
- Jake Fox, 1B
Stats
-Britton leads Oriole pitching with a 0.8 WAR.
-Guerrero against Wakefield (25 AB’s): .571/.636/.857 with 5 home runs and 9 RBI’s.
-The Sox have 40 home runs this year, good for tenth in the majors. The Yankees lead with 61.
-BABIP against Britton: .219
-Boston’s .339 OBP ranks fourth in the majors. St. Louis is first with a .359 mark.
-jason Bay is hitting .218with 2 homers in 90 plate appearances for the Mets this year.
-Jason Varitek is ten of his last thirty-six.
-This is Darnell McDonald’s first start since April 29th.
What are your predictions for Wakefield as he enters the rotation? Let us know in the comments section. We’d love to hear from you.