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The Red Sox are winners of 4-out-of-5 after a tight 2-1 victory over the Mariners Thursday night. Now they'll try to get a fifth in against J.A. Happ and get back to .500 before they have to face the tall task of Felix Hernandez on Saturday.
| BOSTON RED SOX (17-18) | SEATTLE MARINERS (15-19) |
|---|---|
| Mookie Betts - CF | Seth Smith - LF |
| Dustin Pedroia - 2B | Brad Miller - SS |
| David Ortiz - DH | Robinson Cano - 2B |
| Hanley Ramirez - LF | Nelson Cruz - RF |
| Mike Napoli - 1B | Kyle Seager - 3B |
| Shane Victorino - RF | Justin Ruggiano - CF |
| Pablo Sandoval - 3B | Logan Morrison - 1B |
| Xander Bogaerts - SS | Rickie Weeks - DH |
| Sandy Leon - C | Mike Zunino - C |
| Clay Buchholz - RHP | J.A. Happ - LHP |
While Happ is obviously not Hernandez, he's pitching better to start 2015 than he has in any year before. Through six games, Happ holds a 3.29 ERA, nearly a full run below his career average of 4.20. He's allowed more than two runs in an outing just once, two starts ago in Houston. Since then he's managed a solid-if-short performance against Oakland, so the Red Sox--who have done a terrible job at hitting lefties thus far this season--won't even have the benefit of facing him while he's off-balance.
The same might be said about Clay Buchholz, but even if his last performance was the best he's had in weeks, it was nothing to write home about. It's been a long while since we've seen anything from Buchholz that ventured into the realm of truly encouraging. A legitimately good outing would be a welcome sight indeed,;a sight worth hoping for, if not one we can reasonably expect.
First pitch is at 10:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.