Phillies Send Cliff Lee To The Mound In An Effort To Stop Red Sox Offense

Last night the Phillies and Reds Sox opened up a four-game set that would take place in Boston as well as Philadelphia. The Phillies will play two games in Boston and starting tomorrow the Red Sox will travel to Philly to finish up the last two of the series. The opening game of this one was not pretty for the Phils. Tyler Cloyd was lit up for five earned in 2 1/3 innings of work. The Phils would mount only 3 runs, but the Red Sox stole the show, scoring four more runs to win 9-3. Ugly, ugly, ugly. The Phils are on a two-game losing streak and are looking to snap it tonight as they send out Cliff Lee (5-2, 2.48 ERA) against Ryan Dempster (2-5, 4.69 ERA) and the Red Sox.

Cliff Lee is coming off of his 12th career complete game shut out on Wednesday. His first since September of 2011, Lee went the distance against the Marlins, allowing only two hits while striking out five. Over Lee's last three starts, he has allowed just two earned runs over 23 innings (0.78 ERA). In his last five, Lee has an ERA of 1.45 (6 ER in 37 IP). Lee has also struck out 25 batters in that span and has walked 8. Cliff Lee is on one of his hot streaks and it's probably the only thing keeping the Phillies within 5 games under .500. He will look to continue it as he takes on Boston tonight, a team he has a 3-5 record and a 3.81 ERA against in over 80 career innings pitched.

Ryan Dempster has not been so sharp as of late. For the third straight outing, Dempster has struggled. On Thursday the veteran righthander lasted only three innings against Cleveland, allowing 4 earned runs on five hits while striking out and walking four a piece. Dempster took his fifth loss of the year and raised his ERA to 4.69. In his last three, Dempster owns a 10.66 ERA (15 ER in 12 2/3 IP). He will look to turn it around against the Phillies tonight as well as getting the Red Sox a series lead of 2-0 early on. In his career against Philadelphia, Dempster is 5-5 with a 5.27 ERA in over 107 innings.

Game Notes: 

• Cliff Lee is on fire right now. Don't let the offense give him an ice bath.
• Jonny Gomes is just 2-for-29 against Lee while David Ortiz is just 6-for-29. Both are homerless off of him.
• The Red Sox are hitting .240 off of lefties this season as a team.

Phillies lineup:

1. Ben Revere CF
2. Michael Young 3B
3. Jimmy Rollins SS
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Domonic Brown LF
7. John Mayberry RF
8. Freddy Galvis 2B
9. Erik Kratz C

Red Sox lineup:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF
2. Jonny Gomes LF
3. Dustin Pedroia 2B
4. David Ortiz DH
5. Mike Napoli 1B
6. Daniel Nava RF
7. David Ross C
8. Stephen Drew SS
9. Jose Iglesias 3B

First Pitch Forecast: Cloudy – 65° – 10% PoP

TV: CSN
Radio: 94 WIP, 1210 WPHT

Let's Go Phils!

Erik Seybold is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.