Carl Crawford Moved to Seventh in Red Sox Order, Pedro Ciriaco Hitting Second Against Rangers

by abournenesn

Jul 24, 2012

Carl Crawford Moved to Seventh in Red Sox Order, Pedro Ciriaco Hitting Second Against RangersCarl Crawford‘s return to the Red Sox was met with great fanfare, as the All-Star outfielder was expected to instill new life into a struggling offensive unit.

Crawford has fallen on hard times in recent games, though, going just 2-for-16 in the past four games. Manager Bobby Valentine has adjusted his roster accordingly, moving Crawford down to seventh in the batting order just one night after Boston was able to manage a single run in a blowout loss to the Rangers.

Pedro Ciriaco, who has been a pleasant surprise since his recall before the All-Star break, is hitting .348 in 14 games and will hit out of the No. 2 hole in the hopes of bolstering the suddenly stagnant lineup.

Left-hander Martin Perez (1-1, 5.54) will take the hill for the Rangers, hoping to shut down Crawford and the rest of the Sox lineup. Clay Buchholz (8-3, 5.19) gets the start for Boston with a chance to get his ERA under 5.00 for the first time since early April.

Check out the full lineups for both sides, below.

Red Sox (48-49)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Pedro Ciriaco, DH
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Cody Ross, RF
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Carl Crawford, LF
Kelly Shoppach, C
Mike Aviles, SS

Clay Buchholz, RHP

Rangers (57-38)
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Josh Hamilton, LF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Michael Young, 1B
Nelson Cruz, DH
David Murphy, RF
Mike Napoli, C
Gentry, CF

Martin Perez, LHP

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