Yunel Escobar’s left ankle has healed sufficiently and the Toronto Blue Jays’ shortstop is in the lineup Wednesday, batting leadoff against the Boston Red Sox.
In Tuesday’s 7-6 win over Boston in 10 innings, Escobar was forced to leave the game after taking a pitch off his left ankle.
The Blue Jays later listed him as a day-to-day with a lower leg contusion.
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Had he not been able to play, the Blue Jays depleted bench would have been down to one player—Jose Molina—for tonight’s game. But with Escobar back in the lineup, manager John Farrell can now call upon either Molina, or Edwin Encarnacion.
Meanwhile, slugger Adam Lind will miss his fourth straight game with a back injury. Rookie David Cooper will start in his place and bat seventh.
On the hill for Toronto will be Jesse Litsch (3-2, 4.04), who is coming off his best start of the year, allowing one run and four hits while striking out nine in 6 1-3 innings of a 7-4 victory over Detroit on Friday. The right-hander wasn’t as sharp at Boston on April 17, giving up six runs – four earned – in six innings of an 8-1 loss.
Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games Tuesday, is 5 for 13 with a home run off Litsch. Jacoby Ellsbury, riding a 19-game hitting streak, is 6 for 11 with a homer in their matchups.
Toronto’s victory Tuesday was only its third in 10 games. Jose Bautista hit his 11th home of the year – tying him for the major league lead. He’s batting .425 over his last 13 games.
Meanwhile, Boston’s John Lackey seemed to be turning the corner after a tough start before another ugly outing last week.
Lackey (2-4, 7.16 ERA) struggled in his first two starts of 2011, giving up 15 runs in 8 2-3 innings, but the right-hander yielded only three total runs in his subsequent three outings, giving the Red Sox reason to believe he was starting to turn things around.
That was before his outing Thursday, in which he yielded eight runs and 10 hits in four-plus innings of an 11-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels – for whom he pitched his first eight major league seasons. Lackey got booed loudly by the Fenway Park crowd after failing to record an out in the fifth, drawing sympathy even from his opponents.
“It’s hard to see him get booed like that,” former teammate Torii Hunter told the Red Sox’s official website. “He’s going to be fine. He’s just gotta keep grinding.”
Opposing hitters are batting .317 off Lackey, who is averaging a career-low 5.0 strikeouts per nine innings while posting an ERA nearly double his career norm.
Facing the Blue Jays may not help his struggles. He is 4-5 with a 4.58 ERA in 15 career starts against them, including 1-2 with an 8.61 ERA in four starts since joining Boston in 2010.
