John Lackey

Even though David Ortiz hit two home runs and the Red Sox lineup roughed up new Angels starter Dan Haren (literally, for Kevin Youkilis), Boston’s 6-3 victory over the Halos wasn’t enough to cut into the division deficit at the end of the night. With the Yankees beating the Indians, and the Rays’ Matt Garza throwing a no-hitter against the Tigers, the Sox gained no ground in the tough AL East. On Tuesday night, they’ll look to take the second game of their three-game series against the Angels and win their first series since before the All-Star break.

John Lackey will get the call for the Sox, and he might be just what the team is looking for. Lackey (9-5, 4.36 ERA) pitched the first eight years of his career with Angels Stadium as his home ballpark, and he’s done fairly well there, posting a .605 winning percentage with a 3.72 ERA. The last time Lackey faced the Angels this season, he went seven strong innings, giving up one run on two hits. That performance was strikingly similar to his last outing, in Seattle, where he gave up one unearned run on two hits over eight innings. The Red Sox will be looking to see the same numbers out of Lackey this time around, even though this will be the first time in his career that he’ll be coming out of the visitor’s side of Angels Stadium.

Facing him will be the Angels’ 27-year-old ace, Jered Weaver. After starting out strong — losing only three games in the first three months of the season — Weaver (9-6, 3.22 ERA) has hit a rough patch in the month of July. He’s lost three of his last four, including his last game, against Texas. Weaver gave up three runs on seven hits, and that ended up being the losing differential as the Angels fell 9-6, giving Cliff Lee his first win with Texas.

In terms of matchups, keep an eye right on the middle of the Red Sox lineup, as Ortiz and Youkilis are a combined 13-for-46 against Weaver with four home runs and 13 RBI. Meanwhile, the only three Angels who have more than one game’s worth of at-bats against Lackey are players that the Angels have acquired within the past few years (Torii Hunter, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu). Of those three, Hunter has the best statistics against the native Texan with two doubles, two homers and three RBI. On the flip side, Hunter has nine strikeouts against Lackey.

After Tuesday’s game, the Red Sox will play one more game in Anaheim on Wednesday afternoon before returning home to take on the Tigers this weekend.

Red Sox vs. Jered Weaver:

Adrián Beltré (39 career plate appearances against Weaver): .222 BA/.256 OBP/.306 SLG, 3 doubles, 2 RBI, 7 strikeouts

David Ortiz (24): .350/.417/.700, 2 HR, 1 double, 9 RBI, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts

Marco Scutaro (23): .227/.261/.318, 2 doubles, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Kevin Youkilis (22): .300/.364/.600, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

J.D. Drew (18): .353/.389/.529, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Eric Patterson (13): .250/.308/.250, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts

Jed Lowrie (5): .200/.200/.400, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 strikeout

Kevin Cash (2): .500/.500/.500, 1 strikeout

Bill Hall and Darnell McDonald are 0-for-3 against Weaver. Dusty Brown, Mike Cameron, Jeremy Hermida, Gustavo Molina and Ryan Shealy have yet to face the Los Angeles starter.

Angels vs. John Lackey

Torii Hunter (39 career plate appearances against Lackey): .243 BA/.282 OBP/.459 SLG, 2 HR, 2 doubles, 3 RBI, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts

Hideki Matsui (35): .258/.314/.419, 1 HR, 2 double, 7 RBI, 3 walk, 3 strikeouts

Bobby Abreu (31): .185/.267/.333, 1 HR, 1 double, 3 RBI, 2 walk, 7 strikeouts

Maicer Iztruis (3): .000/.333/.000, 1 walk

Mike Napoli (2): .000/.500/.000, 1 strikeout

Brandon Wood (2): .500/.500/2.000, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 strikeout

Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick are 0-for-3 against Lackey. Cory Aldridge, Alberto Callaspo, Kevin Frandsen, Jeff Mathis, Paul McAnulty, Juan Rivera, Reggie Willits and Bobby Wilson have yet to face the Boston starter.