Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 5/16

Clay Buchholz (L), Jeremy Hellickson (R)

After taking 5-of-6 on the homestand, including the final five games, the Boston Red Sox head to the road for their next eight games. Tonight, they’ll kick off the road trip with the first game of a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Rays television market, you can catch the game on Sun Sports. And if you don’t live in either market, the game will also be available nationally on ESPN. It will also be available online at ESPN3.com or on your mobile device at WatchESPN where available. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to it on the Red Sox radio network.

Clay Buchholz looks to continue to bring his ERA down in his eighth start of 2012. In his previous seven starts, Buchholz is 4-1 with an 8.31 ERA. He picked up the win in his only start of 2012 against the Rays after allowing five runs in seven innings of work on April 14. He’s made nine career starts against the Rays and is 5-2 with a 2.38 ERA. Five of those starts have come at the Trop where he is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA.

Jeremy Hellickson gets the ball for the AL-East leading Rays in his eighth start of 2012. In his previous seven starts, Hellickson is 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA. He took a no decision in his only start of 2012 against the Red Sox after allowing five runs in five innings of work on April 14. He’s made six career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox and is 2-1 with a 4.99 ERA. Two of those starts have come at the Trop where he is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA (6 ER/13 IP).

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 today’s lineups:

17-19		23-14
1. Ryan Sweeney	CF	1. Ben Zobrist	RF
2. Dustin Pedroia	2B	2. B.J. Upton	CF
3. David Ortiz	DH	3. Matthew Joyce	LF
4. Adrian Gonzalez	1B	4. Carlos Pena	1B
5. Will Middlebrooks	3B	5. Luke Scott	DH
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia	C	6. Sean Rodriguez	3B
7. Cody Ross	RF	7. Will Rhymes	2B
8. Daniel Nava	LF	8. Jose Molina	C
9. Mike Aviles	SS	9. Elliot Johnson	SS
Clay Buchholz	SP	Jeremy Hellickson	SP