It won't be a sure thing until David Ortiz returns to the lineup, officially forcing the issue of having four outfielders and only three spots to fit them in. But for now, Josh Reddick--fresh off a 3-for-4 performance which has his batting average back over .350--will be given the start in right field while J.D. Drew rides the pine.
Instead of slotting one of the outfielders into the DH spot, Francona has opted to give Adrian Gonzalez a half-day, shifting Kevin Youkilis to first again and playing Yamaico Navarro at third base. Also playing will be Jason Varitek, which is impressive given that not three days ago he put his knees through the kind of torture that would cripple a lesser man.
Boston Red Sox (58-37)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- Adrian Gonzalez, DH
- Kevin Youkilis, 1B
- Josh Reddick, RF
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Marco Scutaro, SS
- Jason Varitek, C
- Yamaico Navarro, 3B
- J.J. Hardy, SS
- Nick Markakis, RF
- Adam Jones, CF
- Matt Wieters, DH
- Derrek Lee, 1B
- Mark Reynolds, 3B
- Nolan Reimold, LF
- Robert Andino, 2B
- Craig Tatum, C
Pitching Matchup: Andrew Miller (3-1, 5.68 ERA) vs. Jake Arrieta (9-6, 5.10)
The Andrew Miller experiment is failing fast. After a poor but relatively harmless performance against this very Orioles team in which he gave up three runs in five innings, Miller completely imploded against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first game back from the All-Star break, allowing seven earned runs in under three innings. Miller has walked 9 batters over his last two outings, and struck out not a one. Batters aren't biting on his hard-breaking slurve right now, and that doesn't seem likely to change so long as he can't locate the rest of his pitches for strikes.
Jake Arrieta has not been much better, giving up five runs in each of his last three starts, including a loss in the game when Miller gave up three. He's been a bit wild, very prone to the home run, and just infinitely hittable, Like Guthrie, his only really positive pitch is his slider, but the rest of his stuff often doesn't even work as solid supporting stuff--not even a 93 MPH fastball, which the Sox hammered their last time out.