Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks, after leaving Tuesday's game with tightness in his left hamstring, is back in the lineup and batting fifth against the Royals on Wednesday. Though lefty Bruce Chen is on the hill for Kansas City, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will get the start against the southpaw as the catcher for Jon Lester, and Ryan Sweeney will be in right field.
That likely reflects not just the desire of the Sox to get playing time for Saltalamacchia and Sweeney amidst a southpaw-heavy stretch of the schedule, but also that Chen hasn't produced dramatic left-right splits this year. Righties are hitting .260/.284/.500/.784 against him, while left-handed hitters own a .257/.316/.400/.716 line against the 34-year-old
For matchup information on how the Royals have done against Lester and how the Sox have fared against Chen, click here [1]. For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox [2].
RED SOX LINEUP
Aviles, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Gonzalez, 1B
Middlebrooks, 3B
Ross, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Byrd, CF
Sweeney, RF
Lester, SP
Links:
[1] http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2012/05/09/wednesdays-red-sox-royals-matchups-jon-lester-vs-bruce-chen/
[2] http://www.weei.com/redsox
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox