Although it’s mainly been the pitching that has let the Red Sox down throughout the team’s now-seven-game losing streak — with only two of the seven starting pitchers making it out of the fourth inning — the offense hasn’t exactly done its job, either.
With just 16 runs scored over the course of the seven contests, the offense has clearly been missing the bats of David Ortiz (lost to the DL), Adrian Gonzalez (lost to the Dodgers) and Carl Crawford (lost to the DL, then to the Dodgers). Nonetheless, with names like Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Cody Ross still populating the starting lineup, the recent dearth of scoring is still a bit surprising.
In fact, of the awkward mix of veterans and youngsters filling out the starting nine, Pedroia is really the only one doing much of anything at the plate. The second baseman not only got his 1,000th career hit on Monday night, but in doing so also extended his season-best 14-game hitting streak. And not only is Pedroia hitting .386 during the streak, but over the last 28 games, the veteran is hitting .385.
Aside from that, Scott Podsednik gets the start in the leadoff role, Ryan Lavarnway take his at-bats as the designated hitter and Jose Iglesias bats ninth and plays shortstop.
Check out the lineups for both the Red Sox and Seattle Mariners below.
Boston Red Sox
Scott Podsednik, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Cody Ross, RF
James Loney, 1B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Ryan Lavarnway, DH
Pedro Ciriaco, 3B
Jose Iglesias, SS
Jon Lester, LHP
Seattle Mariners
Dustin Ackley, 2B
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Kyle Seager, 3B
Jesus Montero, DH
Justin Smoak, 1B
Miguel Olivo, C
Trayvon Robinson, LF
Casper Wells, RF
Brendan Ryan, SS
Blake Beavan, RHP
