Mike Aviles will make his first start with the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night, taking the place of Marco Scutaro one night after the shortstop was pulled early with dizziness.
Aviles, traded to the Red Sox for Yamaico Navarro and Kendal Volz on Saturday afternoon, has hit a paltry .223/.262/.394 in 2011 so far, though that comes thanks in part to a severely depressed BABIP of .234 (compared to a career figure of .313). He picked up his first hit in a Boston uniform Monday night, singling in the ninth, stealing second, and scoring on Jacoby Ellsbury's ground rule double.
The Sox will also have Jason Varitek behind the plate tonight with Josh Beckett on the mound, and Darnell McDonald in right field to take on the left-handed David Huff.
Boston Red Sox (66-41)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Kevin Youkilis, 3B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Mike Aviles, SS
- Jason Varitek, C
- Darnell McDonald, RF
The Indians will utilize the same lineup against Josh Beckett that they did against John Lackey.
Cleveland Indians (54-52)
- Michael Brantley, LF
- Jason Kipnis, 2B
- Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
- Travis Hafner, DH
- Carlos Santana, C
- Kosuke Fukudome, RF
- Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B
- Matt LaPorta, 1B
- Ezequiel Carrera, CF
Pitching Matchup: Josh Beckett (9-4, 2.17 ERA) vs. David Huff (1-1, 0.71 ERA)
It's pretty telling when seven innings and four runs (three earned) leads to the question "What's up with Beckett tonight?" The fact of the matter is that the only time Josh Beckett has pitched in back-to-back losses this year was when his start against the Angels was cut short after four innings of one-hit ball thanks to a lengthy rain delay. The last time Beckett faced the Indians, he held them to just one run over 6.2 innings.
David Huff has only made two starts so far this season, but they've been beauties, with just one earned run scoring on ten hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts over 12.2 innings against the Angels and Twins. He hasn't put up anything like that in his other two seasons in the majors, however, and hasn't even been terribly impressive in the minor leagues. He's not that much better against lefties, traditionally, and relies primarily on a fastball with good movement and a changeup, so he deosn't really even fit into that "soft tossing" category that seems to give the Red Sox so much trouble for no apparent reason. Hopefully the Sox will be just what's needed to bring him down to Earth.
