The Red Sox are kicking off a long interleague road trip today with a stop for a three game series in Pittsburgh. Lineups aren’t out yet, so it remains to be seen how the Red Sox will handle David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez, two big bats that have been helpful to the Sox lately. The keys to winning this game will be to stay ahead of the Pirates on defense and to stop stranding runners on base. In the past 3 games they’ve stranded a combined 32 runs on the basepaths, and if that number continues to stay high there will be a lot less 14-5 wins and a lot more 5-4 nailbiter losses.
Pitching Matchup: Jon Lester (9-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. Paul Maholm (3-8, 3.29 ERA)
The problem with playing teams like the Pirates is that it’s never really clear whether they’ll have their best day defensively. Maholm is a good pitcher, his stats are actually better than Lester’s across the board this season, but he only has 3 wins to show for it. Maholm has 4 pitches: a fastball, a changeup, a slider, and a curve. He’s also been known to throw a cutter now and again, but I wouldn’t count on it. The Sox should have an easy time with Maholm, as he relies mostly on his fastball and changeup, and those are giving up almost 12 runs above average.
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