Tazawa Will Start on Tuesday

After John Smoltz's abrupt departure from the Red Sox rotation, the team was left without a starting pitcher for Tuesday's game against the Tigers. That void will now be filled by Junichi Tazawa, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

Tazawa made his major league debut on Friday night, making it through 1 2/3 innings before giving up a walk-off home run to Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the 15th inning.

Tazawa has been sharp all year, first for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and later with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. His record hasn't been overly impressive (9-7 combined for both teams), but he maintained a 2.57 ERA in 98 innings for Portland and a 2.38 ERA in 11 1/3 innings for Pawtucket. Combined for both teams, he's struck out 94 batters and walked 27.