Game 36: Blue Jays at Red Sox - Worst and First
Contributing Writer
A sense of humility has fallen over Red Sox Nation after the past week. Seven games, one win. Ouch.
Tonight, the Boston Red Sox (21-14) welcome the Toronto Blue Jays (13-23) to Fenway Park for the first time this season. These AL East foes are very familiar with each other, as they’ve faced off six times (all in Toronto) with Boston winning four. The Sox slugged 16 home runs in the Rogers Centre and outscored the Jays by a combined 39-20. Jon Lester takes the hill for the Red Sox, who are trying to avoid falling out of first place for the first time all season.
Here’s tonight’s Red Sox lineup (first pitch – 7:10 pm EDT):
1. Ellsbury, CF
2. Victorino, RF
3. Pedroia, 2B
4. Ortiz, DH
5. Napoli, 1B
6. Nava, LF
7. Saltalamacchia, C
8. Middlebrooks, 3B
9. Drew, SS
Lester, P
Toronto’s pitcher will be making his first start of the season, but he is a seasoned veteran. Ramon Ortiz (0-0, 5.40 ERA) has pitched just 3.1 innings in a relief appearance on April 17. The 39-year-old was recalled Thursday by Toronto from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Ricky Romero.
Expect more from Lester
After starting the season with four wins in five starts, Lester has had two no-decisions his last two outings. He remains 4-0 with a 3.30 ERA, but the Red Sox are 0-2 in those two games and need a big bounce back game from Lester.
WhErE is thE dEfEnsE?
If you are counting, that’s only six “Es,” five short of how many errors Boston has committed in its past seven games. The Red Sox were one of the last teams in MLB to commit an error this season. In fact, they had only 11 in their first 28 games, perhaps a big reason why they began the season 20-8. If you were paying attention, you realized the 11 they committed in the first 28 games matches the 11 over the past seven games.
Let us know what you think about tonight’s game by commenting below.
Like what you read? See more from Ben here.
As always, give me a shout on Twitter: @thebenwhitehead
