Tampa Bay Rays (65-56) @ Boston Red Sox (74-47)
David Price (10-10, 3.76) @ John Lackey (11-8, 6.13)
1:35 PM EDT | Fenway Park (Boston, MA)
TV: NESN RADIO: WEEI 850, WWZN 1510
GAME NOTES
An uneven pitching match up you say? John Lackey laughs in the face of such disparity. He’s beaten Felix Hernandez. He’s beaten CC Sabathia. He has a 6.13 ERA. He has won six straight decisions. He has given up three runs or more in his last four starts. Make of this what you will. The Red Sox strange schedule of late (they’re going to have played three games in the span of about 28 hours) continues as they take on the Rays in an afternoon tilt at Fenway. The pitching match up is in a word….well, uneven. The Rays give the nod to ace lefty David Price, who’s record and ERA this season don’t speak to the ace he truly has been. His last start came against the Yankees. He pitched eight one run innings and struck out four. The win evened his record to 10-10. Essentially, John Lackey has his work cut out for him. The big righty comes off yet another mediocre start in which he gave up four runs in six innings of work against the Mariners. He put twelve men on base via ten hits and two walks while striking out only three. Of course, Josh Reddick sits against the lefty. Darnell McDonald plays right field and bats sixth. David Ortiz, now in a walking boot, is also out of the lineup. He says he hopes to miss no more than a week with his heel bursitis.
Lineups
Boston
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, DH
- Kevin Youkilis, 1B
- Jed Lowrie, 3B
- Darnell McDonald, RF
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
- Mike Aviles, SS
Tampa Bay
- Desmond Jennings, LF
- Johnny Damon, DH
- Evan Longoria, 3B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Casey Kotchman, 1B
- BJ Upton, RF
- Matt Joyce, RF
- Reid Brignac, SS
- Kelly Shoppach, C
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); David Ortiz, right heel bursitis (day-to-day); Marco Scutaro, stiff back back (day-to-day, missed both games yesterday)
Tampa Bay: None.
Stats
-The triple play that the Red Sox executed last night was the 30th in franchise history and first since 1994.
-Casey Kotchman’s .334 average is .117 points better than the .217 average he posted last year. Read as: at least we got Bill Hall for him.
-David Price’s FIP at the end of last year: 3.42. His FIP this year: 3.38. Read as: record and ERA means nothing.
-Jacoby Ellsbury has more RBI’s than Albert Pujols.