RED SOX WILL RELY ON ARM OF JAKE PEAVY, CAN HE RELY ON THEIR BATS?

Jake Peavy will be pitching to his former White Sox teammate, Alex Rios.

The Rangers will have lefty Robert Ross Jr. on the mound in his second major league start.  Ross did not factor in to the decision in his first outing of the year.  Although he is a lefty, he is much better at dealing with the right handed bats.

If you take away the weather, last Friday was on its way to becoming possibly the best home opener Fenway Park has ever hosted.  Unfortunately, that all changed in the 9th inning when Mujica stepped in and started serving up batting practice to the Brewers.

Prior to Mujica taking the mound, Jake Peavy went 6 innings giving up 2 runs.  While some innings were definitely easier than others, if you make it through 6 innings and give up two runs you should be in position to get a win.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox gave Peavy very little run support and ended up losing 6-2. 

Peavy will be back on the mound today trying to get his first win of the season.  If Peavy throws his typical game he will make it through the 6th inning giving up 3 runs.  So in order to be in position for a victory the offense will likely need to get at least 4 runs by the time he departs.  While that doesn't sound like that difficult of a task, it has been almost impossible for the Red Sox to do this season.  In their 8 games this season the Red Sox have scored 4 or more runs by the end of the 6th inning in only 3 of them.  In the past 3 games they have only scored 3 total runs in innings 1-6.  Maybe today will be a breakout time for the early inning runs for the Red Sox.

In the past the Rangers have given Peavy some trouble.  Current members of the Rangers who Peavy has struggled against includes Shinn Choo-Soo (.429 2hr) and Mitch Moreland (3/6, 2 hr, 5 rbi).  Peavy's former White Teammate, Alex Rios, has been off to a hot start by hitting safely in every game this season. 

Today's Lineup for the Red Sox:

Gomes LF
Pedroia 2nd
Ortiz DH
Napoli 2st
Bogaerts SS
Nava RF
Roberts 3rd
Ross C
Bradley Jr. CF


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