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Red Sox-Blue Jays Preview

Jul 9, 2010 - 3:19 AM By MATT BROWN STATS Editor

Boston (49-36) at Toronto (42-43), 7:07 p.m. EDT

All the injuries finally appear to be catching up to the Boston Red Sox.

Fortunately for Boston, few opponents are catching up to Jon Lester's pitches.

Lester seeks to help the injury-riddled Red Sox avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season Friday night when they open their final series before the All-Star break against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Boston (49-36) went a major league-best 30-12 from May 18-July 3 - a feat made more impressive by its ever-growing injury list. Eleven Red Sox are on the DL, including former AL MVP Dustin Pedroia, leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury, catchers Victor Martinez and Jason Varitek, and starting pitchers Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz. Several players who weren't even on the opening day roster have now been pressed into regular duty, including Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Eric Patterson and Kevin Cash.

The makeshift lineup has competed valiantly but appeared to hit a wall this week, as Boston dropped a series finale at home to Baltimore before getting swept in three games at Tampa. The Red Sox have 12 runs during the four-game skid, their longest since dropping a season-high five in a row April 15-19.

"We ask our guys to try their best, do their best and that's exactly what they're doing. We'll keep battling," manager Terry Francona said. "This is actually kind of a fun group right now. It's a good group to work with. We'll figure it out."

Having Lester (10-3, 2.76 ERA) on the mound can't hurt. The left-hander went 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA in his first three starts but is 10-1 with a 1.84 ERA over his last 14 outings to earn his first All-Star appearance.

He picked up his first win April 28 at Toronto, striking out a season-high 11 while limiting the Blue Jays to one hit and two walks over seven innings of a 2-0 victory. Lester has only struck out more batters once in his career - he fanned 12 Blue Jays in an 8-2 win at Rogers Centre on May 31, 2009.

"That's the best I've seen him," Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill said after facing Lester in April. "He's always had good stuff and a good arm, but he had everything in any count."

The Blue Jays (43-43) may give Lester a tougher challenge this time, given the way they're hitting the ball out of the park. Toronto has 15 homers in its last five games, including five in Thursday night's 8-1 victory over Minnesota to increase its total to a major league-high 130.

"If it goes from here to the end of September, we're going to have a lot of fun," manager Cito Gaston said.

Eight Blue Jays have at least 10 homers - a first in club history before the All-Star break - led by Jose Bautista, the major league leader with 23 including one in each of the last two games.

Toronto will need all the power it can get if Ricky Romero (6-5, 3.39) pitches the way he did in his last start. The left-hander gave up eight of the 11 runs the Yankees scored in the third inning Saturday in the Bronx, matching the total earned runs he'd allowed in his previous five outings. He lasted a career-low 2 2-3 innings in an 11-3 defeat.

Romero went 1-3 with a 7.66 ERA in five starts against the Red Sox as a rookie in 2009, failing to pitch through the sixth inning in any outing.