Carl Crawford Moved to Seventh in Red Sox Order, Pedro Ciriaco Hitting Second Against Rangers

Carl Crawford‘s return to the Red Sox was met with great fanfare, as the All-Star outfielder was expected to instill new life into a struggling offensive unit.

Crawford has fallen on hard times in recent games, though, going just 2-for-16 in the past four games. Manager Bobby Valentine has adjusted his roster accordingly, moving Crawford down to seventh in the batting order just one night after Boston was able to manage a single run in a blowout loss to the Rangers.

Pedro Ciriaco, who has been a pleasant surprise since his recall before the All-Star break, is hitting .348 in 14 games and will hit out of the No. 2 hole in the hopes of bolstering the suddenly stagnant lineup.

Left-hander Martin Perez (1-1, 5.54) will take the hill for the Rangers, hoping to shut down Crawford and the rest of the Sox lineup. Clay Buchholz (8-3, 5.19) gets the start for Boston with a chance to get his ERA under 5.00 for the first time since early April.

Check out the full lineups for both sides, below.

Red Sox (48-49)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Pedro Ciriaco, DH
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Cody Ross, RF
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Carl Crawford, LF
Kelly Shoppach, C
Mike Aviles, SS

Clay Buchholz, RHP

Rangers (57-38)
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Josh Hamilton, LF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Michael Young, 1B
Nelson Cruz, DH
David Murphy, RF
Mike Napoli, C
Gentry, CF

Martin Perez, LHP