Game 73 Preview: Orioles at Red Sox

Last night the Red Sox were reacquainted with the old Ubaldo Jimenez, the pitcher who dominated the league while with the Rockies and helped lead a team to the World Series. His change-up fell out of the strike zone and fooled the Sox offense through just 5 innings but struck out 8 and went on to win his 6th game of the season. Meanwhile on the the opposite side, Joe Kelly faltered once again and only lasted 3 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs which raised his ERA to 5.67 and now the speculation is that he might be the next man to fall out of the rotation.

Tonight, the Sox have Clay Buchholz (4-6 3.87) who has pitched better of late and is looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Going against him will be Bud Norris (2-5 7.57) who had a horrible start to his season (1-4 9.88) but has rebounded over his last few starts going 1-1 3.78. The Sox strategy of trying to beat up on Norris might be obvious, but be careful what you wish for because the O's bullpen has been the best in baseball since April 29th, pitching in 158 1/3 innings and posting a 2.05 ERA.

The Sox lineup tonight is without Mike Napoli after he went 0-4 with 4 strikeouts last night, dropping his batting average below .200.

Betts (CF)
Holt (1B)
Pedroia (2B)
Ortiz (DH)
Ramirez (LF)
Bogaerts (SS)
Sandoval (3B)
De Aza (RF)
Leon (C)

Quick Hits:

- Adam Jones is dealing with a sore right shoulder and won't play in this series
- Travis Snider and Matt Wieters have combined to hit 7/47 against Clay Buchholz
- The Red Sox have lost 5 of 6 at home and during that stretch have a 7.07 ERA

Have a question for Mike during the game or whenever a baseball discussion is going on, reach out via Twitter: @86flynn