Arizona @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 15, 2010 ) Arizona 3, Boston 6
Two things have haunted the Arizona Diamondbacks this year: They can’t win on the road and they strike out way too much.
Things held to form Tuesday night as the Boston Red Sox defeated Arizona 6-3 in the first game of a three-game series at Fenway Park. The two teams meet again tonight at Boston.
Arizona lost its 11th straight game on the road Tuesday and struck out 10 times in the process. Clay Buchholz fanned eight Diamondbacks in 5 2/3 innings to notch his ninth win of the season.
Arizona not only leads the majors in striking out, they’re running away with the category. The Diamondbacks entered Tuesday’s game with 597 strikeouts, Toronto was next at 518.
Arizona fell to 9-23 on the road for the season and is last in the National League West, 11.5 games behind division-leading San Diego.
Rodrigo Lopez will try to end the skid for the Diamondbacks tonight. In his last outing Lopez retired 16 straight St. Louis Cardinals but then allowed a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh inning on the way to a 5-2 loss.
As the losses continue to mount, Arizona is possibly beginning a house-cleaning effort. The Diamondbacks traded once-promising outfielder Conor Jackson to the Oakland A’s for right-handed pitcher Sam Demel before Tuesday’s game. Jackson was hitting just .238 on the season.
The Red Sox will start Jon Lester (7-2), who hasn’t lost a game since April 18. Lester struggled in his last outing, an 8-7 loss to the Indians, but Boston took him off the hook on a two-out, two-run homer by Adrian Beltre in the ninth inning. Daniel Bard then surrendered two runs in the bottom of the ninth to take the loss.
Aside from that outing, Lester has been brilliant. He was the American League Pitcher of the Month in May, allowing just 24 hits in 44 innings while compiling a 5-0 mark.
Boston expects to have leadoff hitter Marco Scutaro back at shortstop today. Scutaro, who has been plagued by a pinched nerve in his neck and a bulging disk, had a cortisone shot on Monday. Scutaro wanted to play Tuesday but was held out and said he would definitely be in the lineup Wednesday.
David Ortiz ended a drought with his 13th home run of the season in the first inning Tuesday. Ortiz, who had a miserable April and then turned things around in May, had gone 41 at-bats without a homer until connecting off loser Ian Kennedy.
Dustin Pedroia doubled and scored three times Tuesday. Pedroia is tied for the league lead with 23 doubles.