After a nail biter of a victory last night, the Sox head down to Baltimore to face off against the last place Orioles. Last time these two teams met, David Ortiz and Kevin Gregg dueled it out in a bench clearing brawl that led to suspensions for each player. Tonight, they’re both sitting out serving suspensions. Carl Crawford will also be making his return to the lineup tonight, batting 6th. Crawford hit the DL with a .246/.384/.659 line, with 21 extra base hits so far. Tonight, he looks for a return to the form. Josh Reddick also gets a start in center field, with Ellsbury moved to the DH slot to replace Ortiz. Nick Markakis is the best hitter on the Orioles side of the ball, with a .297/.345/.747 triple slash. The Orioles are clearly struggling as a team this season after the positive end of last year.
Pitching Matchup: Tim Wakefield (5-3, 4.74 ERA) vs. Brad Bergesen (1-6, 5.65 ERA)
Wakefield heads into the game tonight looking to tighten the gap between him and 200 wins, but another milestone many don’t know about is that Tim Wakefield is only seven strikeouts away from 2,000 with the Red Sox. Wakefield has been a reliable pitcher for the Boston organization and I’m happy to see him reaching these goals. Wakefield has been relying on his knuckleball more than he ever has before, likely an effect of his old age more than anything else. His curveball is getting batters out, which is great, but as always Wakefield will be entirely dependent on the generally strong defense behind him.
Brad Bergensen has a lot to contend with, as the Sox are ranked 1st across the board offensively. His last seven appearances have come out of the bullpen, which came after a stint with the Norfolk Tides. In his relief appearances, he’s been inconsistently good, putting up either no runs whatsoever or putting up 3 or 4 runs. His only win this season came on May 14th against Tampa Bay, also the only game where he went any longer than 6 innings. Bergensen doesn’t get too many strikeouts, with only 5.65 per 9 innings pitched, but that stat will rise with more starts and less bullpen appearances. His control isn’t a huge issue, having walked only 20 batters while facing 289 on the season so far, and his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, a stat that measures only things the pitcher has control over: Ks, Walks, HRs, and Hit Batters) is just above league average at 4.11 (Average is around 4.05). This seems to indicate that a lot of Bergensen’s trouble comes from a bad Orioles team behind him as opposed to him being a bad pitcher. Further supporting this, 3 of his 4 pitches (Fastball, Slider, and Changeup) are giving up less runs than average, and his curveball is only giving up .3 more runs than average.
Keys to a victory tonight are another strong performance from Adrian Gonzalez, who is 4-for-4 with 2 doubles against Bergensen, and a lot of defensive support for Tim Wakefield. Good luck and go Sox!
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