Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 8/9

After a rousing come-from-behind win last night, the Boston Red Sox look to extend their winning streak to four-games in the second game of a three-game set with the Minnesota Twins tonight at Target Field.

Today’s first pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. and will be broadcast in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Twins broadcast area, you can catch the game on Fox Sports North. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.

Erik Bedard makes his second start in a Red Sox uniform and his 18th overall this season. In his previous 17 starts, Bedard is 4-7 with a 3.64 ERA. He picked up a win in his only start of the year against the Twins while he was a member of the Seattle Mariners, which is also his lone career Target Field start. In that start on May 25th, he allowed no runs while giving up six hits and a walk in six innings pitched. He’s made 11 career starts against the Twins and is 2-5 with a 4.18 ERA. Six of those starts have come in the Twin Cities where he is 1-2 with a 3.76 ERA.

Francisco Liriano makes his 21st start of 2011 for the reeling Twins. In his previous 20 starts, Liriano is 7-9 with a 5.03 ERA. He was named AL Comeback Player of the Year in 2010 where he made two starts against the Red Sox. In those two starts, he was 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA (5 ER/11.2 IP). He’s had a tough time against the Red Sox in four career starts as he is 1-3 with a 7.78 ERA (17 ER/19.2 IP). Two of those starts have come in the Twins Cities where he is 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA (12 ER/8.2 IP). He had been scheduled to face the Red Sox earlier in 2011 but was scratched with a sore throat and flu-like symptoms.

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 evening’s lineups:

71-43		51-64
1. Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	1. Ben Revere	CF
2. Dustin Pedroia	2B	2. Joe Mauer	1B
3. Adrian Gonzalez	1B	3. Michael Cuddyer	2B
4. Kevin Youkilis	3B	4. Jason Kubel	RF
5. David Ortiz	DH	5. Jim Thome	DH
6. Jed Lowrie	SS	6. Danny Valencia	3B
7. Carl Crawford	LF	7. Delmon Young	LF
8. Jason Varitek	C	8. Tsuyoshi Nishioka	SS
9. Darnell McDonald	RF	9. Drew Butera	C
Erik Bedard	SP	Francisco Liriano	SP