Red Sox Return to Fenway Park to Battle Tigers After Successful West Coast Trip

Fresh off a three-game sweep in Anaheim, the Red Sox return to friendly Fenway Park to open a seven-game homestand against the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

The Sox went 6-4 on their West Coast road trip, capped by Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Angels. The starting rotation had seven straight solid starts to end the trip, with Josh Beckett‘s outing on Wednesday the latest.

Jon Lester will be looking to build on that run as he makes his third attempt to win his 12th game of the year. He enters third in the league in strikeouts and opponents’ batting average, fifth in WHIP and sixth in ERA.

The Tigers were just swept four straight in Tampa Bay and have all but been eliminated from wild card contention, now 12 games behind the Rays in the loss column.

With injuries to Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge, the Detroit offense has gone into the tank. The club has averaged 2.8 runs during a 3-13 stretch.

WHEN AND WHERE

HEAD TO HEAD

PITCHING MATCHUP

Although his line did not look the best, Lester may have had the most dominant start out of many dominant ones by the Red Sox on their road trip. He took a perfect game one out into the sixth before an error ended that bid, and lost his shutout when the next hitter launched a two-run homer.

Lester’s chance for a win was done in by some misfortune and poor work by the bullpen in the eighth, and he wound up on the wrong end of a 5-1 score.

The loss dropped Lester to 0-2 with a 4.02 ERA since the All-Star break, but he has pitched well in both games. Lester gave up four runs and struck out 10 in seven innings at Detroit on May 15. He has a 5.84 ERA in two career starts vs. the Tigers.

Galarraga has won just once since his imperfect perfect game back on June 2, but he has pitched a bit better of late. He allowed three runs in seven innings while striking out five and walking none in Detroit’s 5-3 loss to Toronto five days ago.

The 28-year-old made his 2010 debut against Boston on May 16. He picked up the win after yielding a run on just three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

LINEUPS

STAT SHEET

• Shortstop Marco Scutaro is 6-for-9 with a home run and four RBIs in his last two games.
• Outfielder Jeremy Hermida is 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts in his last four games.
• After four straight months dating to last season in which he had an ERA higher than 4.00, Ramon Ramirez has a 3.38 mark since the start of June.

Tigers

• Johnny Damon needs five hits to reach 100 for the 15th straight season.
• Outfielder Austin Jackson struck out three times Thursday to run his season total to 103, third in the American League.
• Detroit’s 16-33 road record is worse than all but two teams in the AL.

BLACK AND BLUE

• Second baseman Dustin Pedroia (broken left foot) will cut back on his activities until a CT scan scheduled for Friday in Boston. He is likely about two weeks from returning.
• Catcher Jason Varitek remains on crutches and is a couple of weeks behind Pedroia in terms of his recovery from a broken left foot.
• Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is 3-for-7 with a stolen base in three rehab games with the club’s Gulf Coast League affiliate. He is expected to move to Pawtucket, perhaps as early as this weekend.
• Mike Lowell (hip) tied a Pawtucket record with three home runs in his fourth rehab game Tuesday and is 11-for-22 with four homers in just five games for the PawSox. Lowell could be activated Friday.
• Righty Junichi Tazawa underwent Tommy John surgery in March. He is out for the year.

Tigers

• Carlos Guillen is on the DL with a strained right calf.
• Magglio Ordonez is out until late August or early September with a broken right ankle.
• Brandon Inge will be sidelined for several more weeks with a broken left hand.
• Lefty Bobby Seay remains on the 60-day DL with left shoulder soreness.
• Right-hander Joel Zumaya is out for the year after suffering a broken right elbow throwing a pitch near the end of June.
• Right-hander Zach Miner had season-ending Tommy John surgery May 28

OUTLOOK