Kelly Shoppach Catching Josh Beckett as Red Sox Look to Make It Two Straight Against Twins

Josh Beckett is coming off a pair of strong outings, and both of those came with Kelly Shoppach behind the plate. Therefore, plenty assumed Shoppach would catch Beckett's next start as well.

Those assumptions proved to be correct Tuesday afternoon when the Red Sox lineup was announced for the second of a three-game series in Minnesota.

Shoppach will catch and bat ninth, despite the fact that Jarrod Saltalamacchia is 7-for-13 in his last three games after going 2-for-4 with a home run in Monday's win over the Twins.

But Shoppach has numbers backing him up, too. He's owned Twins starter Nick Blackburn over his career, going 8-for-16 against Blackburn with three home runs. 

Shoppach isn't the only player in the Red Sox lineup with good numbers against the Minnesota right-hander. Leadoff hitter Mike Aviles hits him at a .500 (5-for-10) clip, and David Ortiz will look to improve his .400 (4-for-10) lifetime average against Blackburn.

Beckett is 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA against the Twins in his career, including a May 9 start last year in which he took a no-decision after seven scoreless innings.

Here is the Red Sox lineup.

Red Sox (5-10)

Mike Aviles, SS
Ryan Sweeney, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
Cody Ross, LF
Marlon Byrd, CF
Kelly Shoppach, C

Josh Beckett, P

Twins (5-12)

Denard Span, CF
Jamey Carroll, SS
Joe Mauer, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Justin Morneau, DH
Ryan Doumit, C
Danny Valencia, 3B
Chris Parmelee, RF
Trevor Plouffe, 2B

Nick Blackburn, P