The Red Sox will welcome the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals into Fort Myers Thursday as they return to their Grapefruit League schedule after having Wednesday off. First pitch is at 2:35 EST, though neither team is offering television or radio coverage.
With four straight wins at their backs, the Red Sox will look to maintain their momentum behind Alfredo Aceves, making his first actual start of the spring. He has been keeping pace with the other rotation candidates in terms of innings, however, so expect Aceves to match them with four frames of work barring significant trouble.
Things are not going quite so well for the Cardinals, who sit at 4-5 after a 3-4 loss to the Astros on Wednesday. They will turn to Kyle Lohse to get them back up to .500.
Boston Red Sox (7-2)
- Kevin Youkilis, 3B
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Cody Ross, RF
- Ryan Lavarnway, C
- Darnell McDonald, LF
- Nick Punto, SS
- Rafael Furcal, SS
- Jon Jay, CF
- Carlos Beltran, DH
- Matt Adams, 1B
- Daniel Descalso, 2B
- Matt Adams, 1B
- Erik Komatsu, RF
- Koyie Hill, C
- Alex Cora, 3B