Jon Lester has feasted on Toronto batters so far, and he gets another shot at them on Friday.
For the third time this season, Lester takes the mound against the underachieving Blue Jays. Lester allowed five earned runs over 13 innings in his first two outings against Toronto, and held a shutout through seven innings in the first matchup.
Lester, who is 4-0 overall with a 3.30 ERA, will have the usual members of the Red Sox lineup around him at Fenway Park. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is back behind the dish after David Ross caught John Lackey in Thursday’s loss to the Twins, and Will Middlebrooks makes his second straight start since his collision with Ross earlier this week.
Rajai Davis leads off as the designated hitter for the Blue Jays, who are looking far and wide for pitching help. Their latest stopgap solution is 39-year-old Ramon Ortiz. The once-promising righthander, who was known as “Baby Pedro” for his physical similarities to Pedro Martinez, has not panned out the way scouts hoped. He has spent most of the season in Triple-A and is now making a spot start because of Brandon Morrow‘s back spasms.
Check out the full starting lineups below.
Toronto Blue Jays (13-23)
Rajai Davis, DH
Melky Cabrera, LF
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, 1B
J.P. Arencibia, C
Mark DeRosa, 2B
Brett Lawrie, 3B
Colby Rasmus, CF
Maicer Izturis, SS
Ramon Ortiz, RHP
Boston Red Sox (21-14)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Stephen Drew, SS
Jon Lester, RHP
