David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox took game one of their three-game series against the Oakland Athletics on Monday night, 9-6. Felix Doubront tossed 6.2 innings, surrendering three earned runs and striking out six in the win. The Red Sox will send out Alfredo Aceves to start Tuesday night during game two of the series.
Since John Lackey has been out due to injury, Aceves has filled the void for the Red Sox. In his last outing, he tossed five shutout innings before surrendering three earned runs to the Cleveland Indians. Although he gave up three runs, the right-hander picked up the win, striking out two.
This season for the Red Sox, Aceves is 1-0 with a 6.28 ERA and 11 strikeouts over 14.1 innings. The 30-year-old is a career 27-13 with a 3.67 ERA over 338.1 innings, mostly as a reliever. Against the Athletics, Tuesday night’s starter is 3-1 with a 5.17 ERA, something he would like to improve on this week.
Bartolo Colon gets his fourth start of the season on Tuesday night. This season, the 40-year-old has posted a 2-0 record with a 3.32 ERA and 10 strikeouts. In his last outing against the Houston Astros, Colon reached the mid-90’s with his fastball, tossing six innings and being more effective the longer he pitched.
Colon is a veteran of 16 MLB seasons, but sat out the entire 2010 season. The right-hander has posted a 7-8 record with a 3.78 ERA over the past 10 years against the Red Sox.
The Red Sox are out to a great start this season after a couple of disappointing seasons in bean-town. Their 12-6 record is good for third best in the major leagues, behind the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies.
Justin Soderberg is a Boston Red Sox writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, ”Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.
