After falling last night, the Boston Red Sox look to avoid a spilt of the series in the finale of a four-game set with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon.
Today’s first pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. and will be broadcast in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Royals broadcast area, you can catch the game on Fox Sports Kansas City. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.
Jon Lester toes the slab for the 24th time in 2011 this afternoon. In his previous 23 starts, Lester is 12-6 with a 3.22 ERA. He’s made one start against the Royals this year, picking up a no decision after allowing one run in 5.1 innings of work back on July 25th. In six career starts against the Royals, Lester is 4-1 with a 1.28 ERA (6 ER/42.1 IP). Only of those starts have come in the City of Fountains where he is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA (4 ER/5 IP). And that start came back in 2006, his first season in the big leagues.
Danny Duffy makes his 17th start of 2011 for the Royals. In his previous 16 starts, Duffy is 3-7 with a 5.66 ERA. He picked up a no decision earlier this season in his only career start against the Red Sox. In that outing back on July 26th, he allowed six runs on six hits in 3.2 innings of work.
Click on the read more button below to see today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day if you’re on the home page.
Here are this afternoon’s lineups:
 76-49 |
 52-75 |
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| 1. Marco Scutaro | SS | 1. Alex Gordon | LF |
| 2. Darnell McDonald | CF | 2. Melky Cabrera | CF |
| 3. Adrian Gonzalez | 1B | 3. Billy Butler | DH |
| 4. Dustin Pedroia | 2B | 4. Eric Hosmer | 1B |
| 5. Jed Lowrie |
3B | 5. Jeff Francoeur | RF |
| 6. Ryan Lavarnway | DH | 6. Johnny Giavotella |
2B |
| 7. Carl Crawford | LF | 7. Salvador Perez | C |
| 8. Jason Varitek | C | 8. Mike Moustakas | 3B |
| 9. Josh Reddick | CF | 9. Alcides Escobar | SS |
| Jon Lester | SP | Danny Duffy | SP |
And here is how the hitters have fared against today’s starting pitchers:
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Pregame notes: Crawford still batting seventh, plus injury updates [Clubhouse Insider]
Lester tries to continue dominance of Royals [ESPN Boston]
Boston Red Sox keep still-sore Jacoby Ellsbury out of lineup [ESPN Boston]
Pregame notes from Kansas City [Extra Bases]
Left-hander Felix Doubront hoping to make up for lost time in September [Full Count]
Vote: Which Potential September Call-Up Could Have Greatest Impact For Red Sox? [NESN.com]
Red Sox Confident in Struggling Reliever Matt Albers’ Ability to Rediscover Form [NESN.com]
Jacoby Ellsbury’s Injury Creates Opportunity for Other Red Sox to Step Up (Video) [NESN.com]
Ellsbury out for second straight game [Projo Sox Blog]
Ortiz boot should come off in Texas [Projo Sox Blog]
Even as DH, Lavarnway working on defense [Projo Sox Blog]
Lester looks to give Sox series win vs. Royals [RedSox.com]
Photo credits: Getty Images, Getty Images
