After defeating them on Sunday. 8-3, the Boston Red Sox look for Grapefruit League win number two against the Minnesota Twins on Monday night at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Florida.
The Red Sox (1-0) played most of the regular starters for about two innings on Sunday, and will feature more minor leaguers in this one. In fact, Bobby Valentine only has about three of his opening day lineup guys. The Twins (2-1), meanwhile will feature nearly all of their regular players in their lineup tonight. It looks like the Twins have more firepower in this one. But relax everyone, it's just Spring Training!
On the mound for Boston in this one will be Clay Buchholz, who will be making his first start of the spring tonight. Buchholz's 2011 season was cut short due to nagging back issues, so all eyes will be on him to see if he's close to returning to his All-Star caliber form in his expected two innings.
Opposing Clay will be right hander Jason Marquis, who will also be making his first start of the Spring. Marquis was signed by the Twins in the offseason in hopes that he can return to his form that he had with the Rockies back in 2009.
As for who Buchholz and Marquis will be up against (at least for a little while), here is tonight's lineups:
Boston Red Sox Lineup And Pitchers
- Jose Iglesias, SS
- Ryan Sweeney, RF
- Kevin Youkilis, 3B
- David Ortiz, 1B
- Darnell McDonald, DH
- Josh Kroeger, LF
- Kelly Shoppach, C
- Nick Punto, 2B
- Jason Repko, CF
Starting Pitcher: Clay Buchholz (0-0, 0.00)
Also Pitching: Vicente Padilla, Jesse Carlson, Brandon Duckworth, Will Inman
Minnesota Twins Lineup And Pitchers
- Denard Span, CF
- Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B
- Joe Mauer, C
- Justin Morneau, 1B
- Josh Willingham, RF
- Ryan Doumit, LF
- Luke Hughes, DH
- Brian Dozier, SS
- Michael Hollimon, 3B
Starting Pitcher: Jason Marquis (0-0, 0.00)
Also Pitching: Jeff Manship, Carlos Gutierrez, Tyler Robertson, Brendan Wise, Deolis Guerra, Liam Hendriks.
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Florida
TV/Radio: NESN/WEEI
PREGAME NOTES
The Red Sox began their attempt to take back the Mayor's Cup with an 8-3 win in Boston's Grapefruit League opener yesterday at JetBlue Park...Today marks the 2nd of back-to-back tilts against the Twins and 6 overall this spring, with 4 of those games at JetBlue Park and 2 at Hammond Stadium...Clay Buchholz owns a 2.704 ERA (77 ER/256.1 IP) over the last 2 seasons, trailing only LAA's Jered Weaver (2.700) for the best mark among AL pitchers in that time (min. 250.0 IP)
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