(Sports Network) - Jon Lester shoots for his fourth straight win and will try to help the Boston Red Sox avoid a sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, as the clubs wrap up a three-game interleague series today at Fenway Park.
Lester has been consistent all season for the Red Sox and he has fared especially well as of late, posting a 5-2 record with a 2.09 ERA in his past 10 appearances. He has also won each of his previous three starts, allowing a total of thee earned runs over 20 1/3 innings.
On Tuesday, the left-hander tossed seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies. He allowed just six hits while striking out five batters at Citizens Bank Park.
Lester has never faced St. Louis, but he is a perfect 4-0 with a sparkling 1.86 ERA in five lifetime interleague starts.
The Cardinals will go for the sweep behind the arm of Joel Pineiro, who hasn't earned a win since defeating the Cincinnati Reds on April 29th. The former Red Sox pitcher is 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA over his past six outings and St. Louis has dropped each of his last four starts.
The right-hander, however, is coming off a solid performance, allowing just one earned run and seven hits in seven innings of a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. He struck out four before leaving without a decision.
In nine career starts against the Red Sox, Pineiro is 3-5 with a 6.75 ERA and one complete game.
Pineiro will hope for another big offensive performance from his St. Louis club, which used three home runs to down Boston, 9-3, on Saturday.
Troy Glaus had a grand slam, while Rick Ankiel and Aaron Miles also homered for St. Louis, which has taken the first two games of this series following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals.
Mitchell Boggs (2-0) pitched an effective 5 1/3 innings in just his third major league start, limiting the potent Red Sox lineup to three runs on five hits. Kyle McClellan, Russ Springer and Jason Isringhausen combined to toss 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-1) was shelled for seven runs in the shortest outing of his major league career. Matsuzaka (8-1), fresh off the disabled list, was slammed for the seven runs on six hits and three walks. The right-hander labored over 48 pitches, recording just three outs in one-plus innings for his first loss this season.
J.D. Drew hit his 14th home run of the season and 10th this month, while Alex Cora added a two-run double to account for the Red Sox scoring.
Prior to this series, St. Louis' most recent trip to Beantown came during the 2004 World Series, with the Red Sox winning both Games 1 and 2 at Fenway en route to a memorable sweep of the Cards which gave the long-suffering franchise its first world title in 86 years.
The Cardinals did get a slight measure of revenge the following season, taking two of three tests from Boston at Busch Stadium in June of 2005.
Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Jay Bruce hit a grand slam and Joey Votto added a two-run homer, as the Cincinnati Reds pounded the Chicago C... Full Story...
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