Cleveland Indians (53-52) @ Boston Red Sox (66-40)
Josh Tomlin (11-5, 4.01) @ John Lackey (9-8, 6.20)
7:00 PM EDT | Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
TV: NESN, ESPN RADIO: WEEI 850, WWZN 1510
GAME NOTES
The trade deadline has come and gone, and now that the dust has settled, the dog days begin. As the calendar page turns to August, the Red Sox open up a four game set with the Cleveland Indians tonight at Fenway park. John Lackey, whose season has gone from “Well, he has to be better than last year” to “Well, he has to be better than he is now” to “Enough is enough” to “Well, maybe I’d be alright with him starting Game 3”, pitches for Boston. He has won four straight decisions, and is now 9-8 on the season with a *clears throat and softly mumbles* 6.20 ERA. Josh Tomlin, the man responsible for the fourth loss in the 0-6 apocalypse back in April, takes the hill for Cleveland. He was the tough luck loser in his last start, giving up two runs in eight innings of work against Anaheim in a game the Indians lost 2-1. He has an 11-5 mark on the season, and a 4.01 ERA. Cleveland sits 2.5 games out in the American League Central race, and with 7 games against Boston and Texas next on the schedule, this could be the trip that sees them fall out of the race for good. The Red Sox certainly hope so.
Lineups
Boston
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Kevin Youkilis, 3B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
- Josh Reddick, RF
- Marco Scutaro, SS
Cleveland
- Michael Brantley, LF
- Jason Kipnis, 2B
- Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
- Travis Hafner, DH
- Carlos Santana, C
- Kosuke Fukudome, RF
- Matt LaPorta, 1B
- Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B
- Ezequiel Carrera, CF
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 (placed on 15-day DL July 26); Bobby Jenks, strained back (placed on 15-day DL July 16); Jed Lowrie, right shoulder injury (placed on 15-day DL June 17, scheduled to start rehab assignment August 1)
Cleveland: Shin-Soo Choo, fractured left thumb (placed on 15-day DL June 27th)
Stats
-Lackey’s offense has provided him with 26 runs of support in his last 25 innings.
-The only Boston player with more then ten at bats against Tomlin is newly acquired utility-man, Mike Aviles.
-Boston has three of the top six leaders in WAR. (Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Adrian Gonzalez(In that order.))
-The Indians went 32-20 through May, but have gone just 21-32 since.
-Lackey has won four straight decisions, posting a 2.52 ERA in that span.
Enjoy the game everyone. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section, we’d love to hear from you.