Jon Lester Announced as Red Sox’ Opening Day Starting Pitcher

When the Red Sox face the Yankees on April 1, familiar faces like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira or Curtis Granderson won’t be there, but the player pitching to the no-name Yankees will be no surprise.

The Red Sox have announced that Jon Lester will be the Opening Day starter. Lester has had a fantastic spring, with a 0.90 ERA, 0.500 WHIP, 16 strikeouts and just four walks in 20 innings. Lester will try to bounce back from a down 2012 season in which he went 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.383 WHIP.

Clay Buchholz, Ryan Dempster, Felix Doubront and John Lackey will follow Lester in the Red Sox’ rotation.