After finally getting back to .500 (17-17), the Red Sox are on the road taking on the Texas Rangers (18-17) at 8:05 ET. Opposing pitchers for the evening will be Clay Buchholz and Yu Darvish.
After starting off the season with a 12.46 ERA, Buchholz is slowly returning to form. Buchholz' two biggest problems this season have been righties and getting behind in the count. While his ERA is currently at 5.63, his ERA against righties is at 7.3. Luckily for the Red Sox, Clay has seen a lot more lefties so far this season. Of the 20 earned runs he has given up, 7 were knocked in when he got behind in the count. Although his record in Arlington is 0-2, I expect that Clay may be looking forward to this start since he has a much better ERA (3.32) on the road.
Yu Darvish is in his third season with the Rangers and currently has a 2.87 ERA. His two primary pitches are his fastball and slider. Darvish typically throws his fastball low and away, but he has left a significant number in the middle of the plate. With a 92 mph fastball his 79 mph slider is pretty hard to hit. Darvish also likes to keep his slider down and away. In addition to being hard to hit, his slider is also difficult to catch. If Yu chooses to throw a slider with guys on base, they better be ready to run because it is frequently in the dirt. Although he tries to keep it down, Darvish is turning into a fly ball pitcher.
Both pitchers have induced exactly 1 double play ball this season. David Ortiz is 1 for 3 against Darvish with a home run. Lead-off man Dustin Pedroia is 4 for 7 against him. JP Arencibia has never gotten a hit against Buchholz in his 20 attempts.
Red Sox Lineup Tonight
- Pedroia, 2B
- Victorino, RF
- Ortiz, DH
- Napoli, 1B
- Sizemore, LF
- Bogaerts, SS
- Pierzynski, C
- Middlebrooks, 3B
- Bradley Jr., CF
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