Boston Red Sox vs. Seattle Mariners (10:10 pm ET, FSN)
Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners will play again each other in Game 1 (10:10 pm ET, FSN), on Thursday, at Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington. The Red Sox have a 54-42 home, 23-22 away record whereas the Mariners have a 37-58 away, 22-26 home record making for some interesting baseball lines.
As the teams open a four-game series Thursday night, the Red Sox hope John Lackey can earn his sixth straight road win against the Mariners. In the AL East, Boston (53-42) has fallen seven games behind first-place New York, with 10 losses in its last 14 games and 4 1/2 games back of wild card-leading Tampa Bay. The All-Star struggled in a 6-4 defeat, although the Red Sox activated Clay Buchholz to start Wednesday’s matchup with Oakland.
Lackey (9-5, 4.65 ERA) is having one of the most inconsistent seasons of his career and Boston hopes to get a sharper outing although to winning five straight starts at Seattle, he has posted a 1.78 ERA. In 25 overall outings against the Mariners (37-58), the veteran right-hander is 12-9 with a 3.89 ERA.
Adrian Beltre, veteran third baseman has never faced Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-9, 6.18). For the Mariners, Ryan Rowland-Smith s set to take the mound. In each of the two losses, Rowland-Smith has yielded six runs. In seven relief appearances against the Red Sox, he has a 2.70 ERA but no decisions.
Limiting Chicago to four hits en route to an 11-inning, 2-1 win, Seattle got outstanding pitching Wednesday night. As the Mariners avoided a three-game sweep, Franklin Gutierrez delivered a game-winning two-run single.
Despite that outcome, over the last four games, Seattle has scored only five runs. Going 3 for 23 (.130), even 10-time All-Star Ichiro Suzuki has been in a slump over his past six contests. Due to back spasms, the Mariners’ top power threat, Russell Branyan missed two straight games and he could be held out for at least one more. With nine RBIs in last 10 games versus the Red Sox, the veteran is hitting .342. Against Boston last year, Suzuki went 6 for 13 (.462) with two homers in three home games. The Mariners won the season series 4-2.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.