Boston @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( May 24, 2010 ) Boston 6, Tampa Bay 1
If the Boston Red Sox are going to make a run in the AL East, this would certainly be a good time to do it.
The Red Sox have won six of their last seven games and defeated Tampa Bay for the first time all year on Monday. The two teams meet again Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
Jon Lester, who has won his last four decisions, starts for Boston. Lester (4-2) is averaging seven strikeouts a game and is 6-3 lifetime against the Rays.
James Shields (5-1) will start for Tampa Bay.
The Red Sox, who have made up ground in the division within the past week, have done so with outstanding starting pitching.
On Monday, Clay Buchholz was the winner as Boston posted a 6-1 victory over Tampa Bay for its first triumph in five meetings this season.
Buchholz dug himself out of early trouble in the game. He got John Jaso to ground into a double play to get out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the first inning. In the second inning, Buchholz (6-3) struck out two batters with runners on second and third and one out.
The Red Sox offense took over from there. Hot-hitting David Ortiz smacked his eighth homer of May and Kevin Youkilis also homered and had two RBIs.
Had the Red Sox gotten swept in Tampa, they may have completely fallen out of the race. Boston entered the series already 8.5 games behind the division leaders and now sets its sights on climbing the standings.
In the last six games, the Red Sox starters have turned things around. They are a combined 5-1 averaging 7 1/3 innings pitched with a 1.64 ERA. Those numbers are exactly what Red Sox had hoped for when they opened the season with what many believed was the best rotation in baseball.
The Red Sox expect to activate outfielder Mike Cameron before Tuesday's game. Cameron has missed several weeks with an oblique strain and should return to center field. Jacoby Ellsbury will most likely switch back to left field, giving the Red Sox the outfield it expected to have this season for the first time since the sixth game of the season when Ellsbury went on the disabled list with four broken ribs.
The Red Sox, however, may be without catcher Victor Martinez, who left Monday's game in the third inning after being hit with a foul ball off the bat of Tampa Bay's Reid Brignac. X-rays on the foot were negative.
Tampa Bay's lone run in Monday's game came from a home run by Carlos Pena, who entered the series with just eight hits in his last 80 at-bats.