After a walkoff win for the second straight night, the Boston Red Sox try to do it again the more conventional way in the finale of a four-game set with the Cleveland Indians tonight at Historic Fenway Park.
Today’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and the game will be broadcast in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Indians television market, you can watch the game on SportsTime Ohio (STO) or WKYC 3. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.
After coming over in a trade with the Seattle Mariners, Erik Bedard will make his first start in a Red Sox uniform. He’s expected to throw around 75-80 pitches as this is his second start after coming off the DL with a knee injury. He made 16 starts for the Mariners this season and was 4-7 with a 3.45 ERA. He’s made one start against the Indians this season, taking the loss after allowing six runs in four innings back on April 10th. Bedard has made 10 career starts against the Indians and is 2-2 with a 4.44 ERA.
One time member of the Red Sox Justin Masterson will make his 24th appearance (23rd) start of 2011 for Manny Acta. In his previous 23 appearances (22 starts), Masty is 8-7 with a 2.56 ERA. He’s made one start against his former club this season and picked up a no decision after allowing two runs in 7.2 innings back on May 23rd, a game the Indians won 3-2. Masterson has never lost against his former club as he is 2-0 with a 1.25 ERA (3 ER/21.2 IP). He’s made 37 appearances (nine starts) at the Fens in his career and is 9-2 with a 3.50 ERA. In his lone start as a member of the Indians at Fenway, Masterson picked up the win on August 4, 2010 when he allowed one run in five innings of work.
Click on the read more button below to see today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the morning/early afternoon if you’re on the home page.
Since I’m heading to Fenway Park for the game, I’ll be linking over to the lineups. You can get the lineups for both teams by heading over to BaseballPress.com (Red Sox, Indians).
And here is how the hitters have fared against today’s starting pitchers:
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Ex-coach: ‘Boston got real lucky’ to get Erik Bedard [Clubhouse Insider]
Bedard makes his Sox debut tonight [ESPN Boston]
Ellsbury has arrived [ESPN Boston]
Erik Bedard in Perfect Position to Contribute, Remain Comfortable Around Big-Name Boston Teammates [Tom Caron – NESN.com]
Bedard faces Tribe in Red Sox debut [RedSox.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the Akron Beacon Journal and Cleveland Plain Dealer websites. You can also check out our Bloguin brother Burning River Baseball.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
Photo credits: AP Photo, Reuters Pictures