The Oakland Athletics open their three game series with the Boston Red Sox Friday night as Josh Outman squares off against Clay Buchholz. Outman will be making his third start since returning to the big leagues last month. Buchholz makes his second start versus Oakland after getting his first win of the year on April 20. He lasted 5 1/3 innings and gave up one run on six hits and four walks.
The A’s have inserted Daric Barton back into the lineup but dropped him to sixth in the batting order as he has struggled to find the form that made him a dangerous threat in 2010. DeJesus and Willingham will occupy the second and third spots in the order, while Kurt Suzuki moves up to fifth.
The Red Sox will roll out what has been an incredibly hot lineup that led the American League in runs scored in May. They actually led the AL in virtually every possible major offensive category. The only category they didn’t lead in was triples and they were tied for second with six triples. Needless to say, A’s pitchers will have their hands full.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp CF
2. David DeJesus RF
3. Josh Willingham LF
4. Hideki Matsui DH
5. Kurt Suzuki C
6. Daric Barton 1B
7. Mark Ellis 2B
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
9. Cliff Pennington SS
Boston Red Sox
1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis 3B
5. David Ortiz DH
6. Jed Lowrie SS
7. Carl Crawford LF
8. Mike Cameron RF
9. Jarrod Saltalamacchia C