Terry Francona apparently wasn't thrilled with the nine runs his reworked lineup managed on Wednesday night, as the Red Sox will return to the order they've been using in recent weeks with Dustin Pedroia batting fourth and David Ortiz fifth.
The switch seemed to work out just fine against Phil Hughes, with David Ortiz bringing two runs home when he homered Adrian Gonzalez home after the first baseman's two-out single. Bur for whatever reason Marco Scutaro will return to the 2-hole, pushing Dustin Pedroia back into the cleanup spot:
Boston Red Sox (83-52)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Marco Scutaro, SS
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Jed Lowrie, 3B
- Josh Reddick, RF
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
New York Yankees (81-53)
- Derek Jeter, SS
- Curtis Granderson, CF
- Mark Teixeira, 1B
- Robinson Cano, 2B
- Nick Swisher, RF
- Andruw Jones, LF
- Jesus Montero, DH
- Russell Martin, C
- Eduardo Nunez, 3B
Pitching Matchup: Jon Lester (14-6, 3.09 ERA) vs. A.J. Burnett (9-11, 5.31 ERA)
Allowing just 22 earned runs in his last 13 starts, Jon Lester is, quite simply, on fire. Still, these last three months might look even better were it not for his two outings against the Yankees. To be sure, netiher start was a disaster, but just barely making the cut for a "quality start", neither was really impressive either. Lester has given up nine baserunners and three runs in six innings each time, with his biggest difficulties always coming in the middle innings. Given what happened in last night's game, he might want to be careful in the fifth and sixth once again.
Then again, any quality start should be enough to topple A.J. Burnett. The Yankees' version of John Lackey has had more disasters this month than he has had normal outings, and sports an 11.91 ERA over his last five games. If Baltimore, Minnesota, and Chicago can get to Burnett, then so, too, should the Red Sox--much as they did in June.