Terry Francona, manager of the Boston Red Sox (28-20) for their two World Series titles during the 2000s, made his return to Fenway Park last night as manager of the surprising Cleveland Indians (27-19), shellacking his former club 12-3. Tonight, the Red Sox look to even the four-game series at 7:10 p.m. The game can be live streamed for free here or with a subscription at MLB.com. Red Sox fans can turn on WEEI 93.7 for the radio broadcast while Indians fans can hear the action at WTAM 1100.
Last night's starter for the Indians, Zach McAllister, acknowledged after the game that this wasn't any old matchup. "I think everyone wanted to go out there and get a win, not just for the team but for (Francona) also. He's been great for us this year and he's well liked everywhere he is. It's definitely exciting to get him a win."
Tonight, another ex-Red Sox will get a shot at redemption against the team that discarded him, starting pitcher Justin Masterson (7-2, 2.83 ERA). Masterson has pitched like an ace in 2013, and hasn't allowed a run to cross the plate in his last two starts, which spanned 16 innings. He recorded wins in both efforts.
Francona, speaking about Masterson's last start, an 11-strikeout gem against the Seattle Mariners, said, "From the very first pitch of the game he came out firing. He was not only firing, but he was pitching. He was using both sides of the plate. He was using a two-seamer, four-seamer, throwing breaking balls to both sides of the plate. He kept going up, down, in, out. He worked ahead."
The Red Sox will counter with John Lackey (2-4, 3.31 ERA) who has been surprisingly effective this season and is posting the highest strikeout to walk ratio (4.00) of his career.
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