Carl Crawford has been bumped to the seventh slot and will hit in front of catcher Jason Varitek as Jarrod Saltalamacchia will sit this one out. The red-hot Jed Lowrie (.462 BA, five RBIs, six runs scored in 10 games this season) gets his fourth start in a row. In his last six games, the 27-year-old infielder is batting .579 with 11 hits and just two strikeouts in 20 plate appearances.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2, 12.86 ERA) takes the hill for the morning start. The righty allowed seven runs in two innings during a 16-5 loss to Tampa Bay last week, but Dice-K is 6-1 with a 3.80 ERA in 11 starts against the Jays.
The Jays send lefty Ricky Romero (1-1, 1.66 ERA) to the hill. He’s 2-4 with a 7.42 ERA in nine career starts against the Sox and was a tough-luck loser his last time out when he struck out eight and allowed just two earned runs over eight frames in a 3-2 loss in Seattle.
Kevin Youkilis, batting fourth on Marathon Monday, has two homers in 10 at-bats against Romero in his career. David Ortiz (9-for-22, .409 BA, six RBIs) and Dustin Pedroia (6-for-11, .545 BA, four RBIs) have had plenty of success against the young Toronto hurler.
Check out the lineups below.
Red Sox
J.D. Drew, RF
Dustin Pedroia , 2B
Adrian Gonzalez , 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Jason Varitek, C
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Blue Jays
Yunel Escobar, SS
Corey Patterson, CF
Jose Bautista, RF
Adam Lind, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
J.P. Arencibia, C
Travis Snider, LF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Jayson Nix, 3B
