Jon Lester

Continuing their 10-game West Coast swing, the Red Sox will take on a familiar face Saturday night for the third game of their four-game series against the Mariners. David Pauley, a midseason call-up for the Mariners from Triple-A Tacoma, had previously been in the Red Sox system for four years. Pauley spent most of his time with Portland and Pawtucket in the minors, but he did make a few appearances with the Sox in 2006 and 2008. In 2009, he was designated for assignment to make room for John Smoltz and was eventually traded to Baltimore for Randor Bierd, who was released by Pawtucket on Thursday.

Since joining the Mariners on June 27, Pauley (0-2, 2.40 ERA) has been serving two roles: reliever and starter. As a reliever, the Colorado native didn’t get much of a chance to show what he had, pitching four innings while giving up no runs, three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. When ace Cliff Lee was traded to Texas on July 9, it was Pauley who filled in Lee’s rotation slot that day. He didn’t do that bad, giving up two hits and one earned run over five innings against the Yankees. However, he received only one run of support and the M’s fell short, 6-1. In his last start, it was déjà vu as the White Sox roughed up the Mariners, 6-1. Pauley didn’t fare as well as his first start however, as he gave up three runs on eight hits over six innings.

Meanwhile, Jon Lester has hit a rough patch of sorts recently. He picked up his fourth loss of the year against the Rangers on July 18, his first loss in nearly a month. Those two “recent” losses are an anomaly, though; before his June 22 loss against Colorado, Lester had won his previous eight decisions, not losing a game in over two months. Despite the “problems,” Lester (11-3, 2.81 ERA) still has been one of the more dominant pitchers in the league and the rock in the frazzled Red Sox rotation. Even in that loss to the Rangers he was effective, allowing three runs on nine hits over eight innings while striking out six. Just like Pauley, Lester didn’t get enough run support as the Red Sox lost 4-2.

In terms of matchups to look out for, it’s about as one sided as it could possibly be. Partly due to his prolonged tenure in the Red Sox minor league system and partly because of the depleted Boston roster, Pauley never has faced any of the current Red Sox batters.

For Lester, it’s pretty obvious who to look out for, and it’s right at the top of the lineup. One of the best leadoff men in history, Ichiro Suzuki knows exactly how to hit major league pitchers, and Lester is no exception. Ichiro is 6-for-18 against Lester with a couple of home runs, but the same isn’t the case for the rest of the Mariners lineup. Case in point: More than half of Franklin Gutierrez’ career plate appearances against Lester have resulted in a strikeout (7-of-13) while Jack Wilson is 0-for-8 in his career against the lefty.

The Red Sox will finish up the series against the M’s on Sunday afternoon before moving on to Anaheim in the last leg of their road trip.

Red Sox vs. David Pauley

None of the current Red Sox have faced the Seattle starter.

Mariners vs. Jon Lester

Ichiro Suzuki (18 career plate appearances against Lester): .333 BA/.333 OBP/.667 SLG, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 strikeout

Franklin Gutierrez (13): .231/.231/.231, 2 RBI, 7 strikeouts

Jose Lopez (12): .100/.250/.100, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Chone Figgins (9): .250/.222/.375, 1 double, 3 RBI, 2 strikeouts

Josh Wilson (9): .000/.111/.000, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Russell Branyan (7): .429/.429/.571, 1 double, 3 strikeouts

Milton Bradley (3): .000/.333/.000, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Ryan Langerhans (3): .500/.333/.500, 1 RBI, 1 strikeout

Casey Kotchman (2): 1.000/1.000/1.000, 1 walk

Josh Bard, Rob Johnson, Michael Saunders, Justin Smoak and Jack Wilson have never faced the Boston starter.