After capping off an impressive road trip with a record of 8-1, the Boston Red Sox head back home to Fenway Park where they welcome the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game weekend series of interleague play. The Brew Crew will mark the first of many National League teams Boston will face over the next couple of weeks.
Opening up the homestand for the Red Sox will be big right hander John Lackey, who will make his third appearence since coming off the disabled list. Despite his early season struggles, Lackey has bounced from quite nicely as he is 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA since coming off the disabled list. Lackey last pitched on June 11 against the Blue Jays, going six innings and giving up four earned runs on six hits while walking two and striking out eight. He will be looking to improve his record to 5-5, right at a .500 winning percentage.
The Brewers will counter with right hander Shaun Marcum, the former Toronto Blue Jay. Marcum last pitched on June 12 against the Cardinals, going seven innings and giving three earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out eight. Since he has pitched for the Blue Jays for the majority of his career, he knows most of the Red Sox hitters pretty well. In his career however, Marcum is 5-5 with a 4.38 ERA against the Red Sox.
Because of the recent injury to Jed Lowrie, the Red Sox lineup will have some modifications. For one, Jacoby Ellsbury will be back in the lineup tonight after sitting out last night's game. In for Lowrie at short will be Marco Scutaro, who will stay put in the seven hole for tonight's game against the right handed Marcum. Jason Varitek will get the suprising start behind the plate tonight with Lackey on the mound, batting ninth. Here is the rest of the lineup:
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Carl Crawford, LF
7. Marco Scutaro, SS
8. J.D. Drew, RF
9. Jason Varitek, C
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Go Sox!