Coming off a dramatic walkoff win in game one of their doubleheader, the Red Sox will look to make it a clean Saturday sweep behind John Lackey.
It's been a rough couple of outings for John Lackey. After delivering what should have been a complete game shutout against the Twins (you remember, that time Ortiz and Napoli went back-to-back in the tenth to turn a 1-0 loss into a 2-1 win), Lackey has allowed 11 earned runs in his last 8.2 innings of work. It's true that the majority of that awfulness comes from his short night against Seattle nearly two weeks ago, but his five innings against New York in his last start were none-too-pretty either.
It's a "bump in the road" that's taken his ERA from 2.96 all the way up to 3.62. Certainly still a respectable figure, but not in the ridiculous All-Star territory he was in before. And, to be frank, often not enough for what Boston's offense is willing to give these days. Hopefully they'll provide better than the three runs Jon Lester got in the day game (to say nothing of the unfortunate early-inning defense).
First pitch is at 7:15 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.