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Royals-Red Sox Preview

Jul 11, 2009 - 5:39 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Kansas City (37-48) at Boston (51-34), 7:10 p.m. EDT

A deep starting rotation has been one of the main reasons the Boston Red Sox are in first place in the AL East, and they're still waiting for another former Cy Young Award winner to start contributing.

John Smoltz will try to follow up Jon Lester's dominating performance and earn his first win with Boston, which continues a four-game series against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Kansas City is happy Lester is done for the series. In his first start against the Royals since no-hitting them last May 19, the left-hander threw eight innings Friday and got the win when Dustin Pedroia hit an RBI double in the eighth of a 1-0 victory.

Boston (52-34) rebounded from an 8-6 defeat in the series opener and regained a one-game lead over the New York Yankees, who had pulled even the night before.

Strong recent starting pitching has boosted the Red Sox of late. Since May 31, Boston starters are 17-8 with a 3.40 ERA.

Coming off shoulder surgery that cut his 2008 season to six appearances, the 42-year-old Smoltz (0-2, 6.60 ERA) has been serving as Boston's fifth starter. The right-hander has struggled to prevent a big inning in two of his three starts, and gave up four runs in the fourth during a 6-0 loss to Oakland in his home debut Monday.

"I'm almost there. I really am," Smoltz said. "I always felt I could pitch in any ballpark, any stadium, against any team, but there's some familiarity that comes with it. I don't know some guys."

He has faced several Royals, with Jose Guillen going 9 for 30 (.300) against him and Mike Jacobs going 6 for 23 (.261) with two home runs.

Kansas City pulled off a four-run comeback in the opener at Fenway, but was held to one or no runs for the sixth time in 11 games Friday. The Royals (37-49) rank last in the AL in runs with 337 and 13th in batting average at .251.

Boston's bats have been inconsistent lately, but Pedroia has been an exception. He is batting .300 on the season thanks to a .352 average (25 for 71) in his last 16 games. The reigning AL MVP has 11 doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs over that span.

"I think we always feel like when he comes up in that situation, something good is going to happen," Red Sox manager Terry Francona told the team's official Web site after Pedroia's clutch hit Friday.

David Ortiz went 0 for 4 but has 10 homers in his last 30 games. He is 9 for 23 with four homers against Kansas City starter Gil Meche.

Since pitching a four-hit shutout against Arizona on June 16, Meche (4-8, 4.14) is 0-3 with a 7.65 ERA in four starts, walking 10 in 11 2-3 innings in his last two outings. The right-hander has been more effective against the Red Sox, going 5-2 with a 3.62 ERA in nine career starts.