Los Angeles @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 17, 2010 ) LA Angels 0, Boston 6
John Lackey must have found it hard to leave the only organization he had even known when he signed a five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox in the offseason.
That ended an eight-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels for Lackey, who posted double-digit victories in all but his rookie season on the West Coast.
And that inaugural season provided a crowning achievement for Lackey, who became the first rookie to win a Game 7 in the World Series in 93 years.
Lackey's chances of pitching in another Game 7 situation are considerably better with Boston than the Angels at the moment. The 31-year-old right-hander will take the mound Wednesday night against his former club for the third time this season in the middle game of a three-game series.
The Red Sox won the series opener 6-0, improving to 8-0 against the Angels this season and dropping Los Angeles back to the .500 mark at 60-60 - eight games behind Texas in the American League West.
Although Lackey (10-7) has made it eight straight seasons with at least 10 victories, he is struggling through one of the most difficult years of his career.
Opponents are batting .288 against Lackey, the highest of his career. His 4.54 ERA is among the worst of his career and he already has walked more batters than each of the past two seasons.
In fact, in his last eight outings Lackey is just 1-4 with four no-decisions. Fortunately for Lackey, the Angels could provide the perfect foe to get well against.
Lackey’s only win since June came on July 27 in Anaheim, when he allowed two runs on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings of a 4-2 Red Sox victory.
He also turned in a stellar performance against the Angels on May 5, yielding just one run on two hits in seven strong innings.
After being overpowered by Boston’s Clay Buchholz on Tuesday night, the Angels have scored two runs or fewer 37 times this season, dropping to 4-33 in such contests.
The Red Sox got a grand slam from rookie Ryan Kalish to spark Tuesday’s victory, which marked the first of a nine-game homestand.
Despite the victory, Boston remained 5 ½ games behind the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, who both won Tuesday and are tied atop the AL East.
Opposing Lackey will be Angels left-hander Scott Kazmir (8-10), who has given Boston fits in the past. Even though he’s only 26, Kazmir has already made 24 career starts against the Red Sox, going 8-8 and pitching to a 3.94 ERA.
He will be making his third start since coming off the disabled list with shoulder fatigue. Although he’s still building up his arm strength, Kazmir has allowed just three earned runs and seven hits combined in his last two outings.
One player he won’t be happy to see is Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who went 0-for-4 Tuesday in his first game after missing 44 games with a broken bone in his foot.
Pedroia has had tremendous success against Kazmir, batting .516 (16-for-31) with a homer, four doubles and seven walks.