Left-handed starter Jon Lester was the only Red Sox pitcher the Rays didn’t see in last weekend’s four-game series at the Trop. With the Rays being 2-8 against left-handed starters, that was a good thing. But, tonight, they face Lester for the second time this season. Lester was the starter in one of the two Rays wins against lefties, a 7-2 win at Fenway on April 8. In that game, Lester lasted only five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.
For the season, Lester is 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. In his career against Tampa Bay, Lester has started eight games, going 4-1 with a 3.97 ERA.
In the first time around, Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett and Aki Iwamura all had two hits against Lester. And, Carlos Pena added a home run. Overall, Bartlett is a career 6-11 against him and Carlos Pena is 6-19 with three HR. On the other hand, Pat Burrell is 0-5 and BJ Upton is 4-18.
Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Rays. This will also be his second start against the Red Sox this season, the first coming in that April 8 matchup with Lester, with Kazmir on the winning side. In that game, Kaz went six innings, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out four. So far this season, he’s struggled a little bit with his control, and is 3-3 with a 6.00 ERA and 1.58 WHIP.
This will be Kazmir’s 23rd start against the Red Sox. He is 7-7 with a 3.52 ERA against them. Kevin Youkilis was 2-3 in the first game and Rocco Baldelli had a hit as well. Overall, one could say Dustin Pedroia owns Scott Kazmir, going 15-27 at the plate. Mike Lowell has four HR while going 9-37 with Kaz on the mound. David Ortiz has also pounded out a couple of HR, but is only 8-41 lifetime against him.
The Rays look to even the series, and will have a national audience to do it in front of as this is the Saturday afternoon Fox matchup today.
