Texas @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 16, 2009 ) Boston 3, Texas 4
The Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers entered the season with legitimate playoff expectations and World Series hopes.
But going into a three-game series at Fenway Park on Tuesday, both teams are reeling after being swept and desperately need to rebound. Boston lost four consecutive games to the division rival Tampa Bay Rays and Texas dropped three straight to the New York Yankees.
The Red Sox, who are off to their worst start since opening the 1996 campaign with a 2-11 mark, send veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to the mound for his first home start this season.
Wakefield, who is currently 11 wins away from 200 for his career, struggled in his last start. He allowed six runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings as Boston fell to the Minnesota Twins
The veteran hurler has also struggled in 33 career games against the Texas Rangers, compiling a 10-15 record with a 5.98 ERA. Wakefield, who didn’t face Texas last season, also hasn’t fared well against newly acquired Rangers slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who is 9-of-21 with five home runs, eight RBIs and nine walks in 30 plate appearances.
To snap their current five-game losing streak, though, the Red Sox simply can’t fall behind again. They haven’t held one lead since a 6-3 victory at Minnesota last Wednesday.
The middle of the Red Sox lineup hasn’t exerted itself, as Victor Martinez, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz (the Nos. 3-5 hitters) were all hitless in Monday’s loss to the Rays. Ortiz, in particular, has yet to find his offensive groove this season. He has no home runs or multi-hit games, and only two RBIs in 38 at-bats.
On the bright side, Ortiz does have two home runs in four at-bats against Rangers starter Colby Lewis.
Those home runs, it’s worth noting, came back in 2002-03, when Ortiz was crushing everybody’s pitching and Lewis struggled with his location and command in his first couple of years in the major leagues.
Lewis has reinvented himself this year after spending two seasons playing professional baseball in Japan.
In his last start against the Cleveland Indians, Lewis won his second game of the season by going allowing two runs on five hits with 10 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Opponents have only hit .186 against Lewis this season, too.
But Lewis still has struggled with command, issuing eight walks in 12 1/3 innings so far this season. In Japan last year, he walked 19 over 176 1/3 innings. In four career appearances and one start against the Red Sox, Lewis has a 1.93 ERA with nine strikeouts and two walks.
And, similar to the Red Sox and their need to get Ortiz going, the Rangers would like to see Josh Hamilton become the feared hitter he was back in 2008.
Hamilton has no home runs and only two RBIs in 41 at-bats this year. In his last 19 at-bats, he has only one hit.
For what it’s worth, the Rangers played well in their nine games against the Red Sox last year, posting a 7-2 record.