The Red Sox announced that right-hander Alfredo Aceves will make the start in Game 1 of Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader against the Rays, with left-hander Felix Doubront getting the ball in Game 2. Aceves, who will be summoned from Triple-A Pawtucket, is 3-1 with a 4.97 ERA, 16 strikeouts and 17 walks in five starts spanning 25 1/3 innings. He’s been sharp in each of his last two outings in the big leagues, with identical yields of one run in six innings on May 27 and then, after a spell in Triple-A Pawtucket, June 12.

Doubront, meanwhile, is 4-3 with a 4.91 ERA. He allowed two runs in five innings while striking out seven and walking sixth in his only outing of the year against Tampa Bay.

For more Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox.

According to an industry source, the Red Sox have

Danny Bethea, taken by the Red Sox in the 34th round, hit a walkoff homer against UNC in 2012. (AP)

signed a handful of lower-round picks. A brief look:

Bryan Hudson – 15th round, OF, Mill Creek HS (Ga.)

Georgia area scouts Brian Moehler and Rob English identified Hudson early in the spring as an athletic outfielder with a projectable body, exceptional speed — a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale — and some life in his bat. The Sox are hopeful that he represents a potential below-the-radar find.

Joe Gunkel – 18th round, RHP, West Chester University (junior)

Gunkel, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, went 7-4 with a 2.44 ERA with 76 punchouts and 11 walks in 77 1/3 innings. In 11 starts, he had nine complete games. His most noteworthy work came the previous summer, when he was named the tournament MVP while leading West Chester to the Division II national championship on the strength of 18 scoreless innings, punctuating a year in which he went 10-1 with a 2.07 ERA, 45 strikeouts and 16 walks in 87 innings. He’s expected to head to the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League.

Reed Gragnani — 21st round, IF/OF, University of Virginia (senior) Read the rest of this entry »

According to Jim Callis of Baseball America (via twitter), the Red Sox have agreed to terms with third-round pick Jon Denney – a catcher with well above-average power out of Yukon High School in Oklahoma — for $875,000. That sum would be considerably more than the $671,200 assigned for the slot recommendation for the No. 81 pick in the draft (where Denney was selected).

Still, a source close to Denney said that the catcher had thought that a selection in the top 40 picks was a likely outcome in the draft. Given that the No. 40 slot comes with a recommended bonus of nearly $1.4 million, getting Denney for $875,000 (a bonus recommendation roughly in line with the No. 64 overall pick late in the second round) would represent solid value for the Sox.

When the Sox selected Denney, they were hopeful but not certain they would be able to meet his bonus demands.

“We don’t shy away from taking the best player on the board,” said Sawdaye on last Sunday’s “Down on the Farm.” “Jon was clearly that for us. We’re going to make a concerted effort to sign him and hopefully we get it done so we can add his power package to the organization.”

It appears the team has done just that.

Right-hander Rubby De La Rosa will join the Sox in Baltimore on Friday. (AP)

With the Red Sox bullpen depleted once again following Thursday night’s 13-inning, 5-4 loss to the Orioles, the Red Sox are summoning Rubby De La Rosa from Triple-A Pawtucket. De La Rosa, who has been starting all year in Triple-A, will be available to the Sox out of the bullpen, according to a major league source. To clear a spot, right-hander Alex Wilson — who took the loss despite pitching well, allowing one run in 2 2/3 innings — was optioned back to Pawtucket after Thursday’s loss.

De La Rosa is 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA in 11 starts (38 1/3 innings) with the PawSox this year. Most of those outings have been with restricted workloads, as the Sox have been proceeding carefully with the 24-year-old given that a) he is pitching his first full, healthy season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2011 and b) he has never thrown more than 111 innings in a minor league season. Still, he’s been making steady progress within those strictures, working a season-high five innings in just 70 pitches in his most recent outing.

In his last eight outings dating to April 23, De La Rosa has a 1.14 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks in 31 2/3 innings. His ability to garner strikeouts in volume has fluctuated — Saturday marked the second time in three outings that he had just one punchout — but in an interesting suggestion that, in contrast to his early-season struggles, the 24-year-old is now showing the ability to execute consistently, he has allowed no more than two earned runs in any of his last eight starts. Read the rest of this entry »

Pedro Ciriaco

The Red Sox traded utility player Pedo Ciriaco to the Padres for a player to be named later or cash on Friday. Ciriaco had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Peter Gammons first reported the deal.

A career .287/.315/.398 hitter who has played all infield positions as well as some outfield for Boston, Ciriaco gave the injury-plagued Sox a boost last season, coming in and hitting .293/.315/.390 with 16 stolen bases in 19 attempts over 76 games (259 at-bats). However, he struggled this season, hitting .216/.293/.353 in 28 games and making seven errors between stints at third base and shortstop.

Ciriaco played a combined 31 games for the Pirates in 2010 and 2011 before signing as a free agent with the Red Sox in January 2012.

The Lowell Spinners, who will play a free exhibition game on Friday night against the Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in anticipation of the start of the Short-Season Single-A New York-Penn League season on Monday, will feature a noteworthy ensemble of Red Sox minor league talent in their starting rotation and up the middle of the field. A thumbnail of the Spinners’ anticipated roster:

STARTING ROTATION

Known members of the starting rotation are:

Sergio Gomez, RHP (19 years old) — international free agent: Gomez just made a season-ending cameo in Lowell at the end of 2012 and made a season-opening appearance in Single-A Greenville en route to Lowell. The 19-year-old from Colombia is a strike thrower with a starter’s frame.

Jamie Callahan, RHP (18 years old) — 2012 second-round pick: Just 17 when drafted by the Sox, the Sox viewed him as a big (6-foot-3), strong pitcher whom the Sox saw sitting at 92 mph while working at up to 94-95 mph (something that gives the Sox some optimism that his fastball could tick up further) with a four-pitch mix, featuring both a curve and slider as well as a change, with a downhill fastball that has deception in the strike zone. Read the rest of this entry »

Felix Doubront got a no-decision after pitching just 4 2/3 innings. (AP)

On a night when Felix Doubront lasted only 4 2/3 innings and left with the Sox in a 4-2 hole, the Red Sox nonetheless rallied to tie the game and send it into extras against the Orioles thanks in no small part to the outstanding performances of an assembly line of relievers. Franklin Morales (1 1/3 innings), Andrew Miller (2 scoreless frames), Junichi Tazawa (1 1/3 shutout innings) and Craig Breslow (two outs) all came on and kept Baltimore in check, buying time for the Sox to push across a pair of runs to knot the game, 4-4.

But after Alex Wilson — summoned from Pawtucket earlier on Thursday — delivered scoreless frames in both the 11th and 12th innings, the Orioles rallied for a two-out run in the 13th to claim a 5-4 walkoff victory. The game-winning hit came when Orioles slugger Chris Davis blooped a jam-shot — a 93 mph fastball located exactly where Wilson wanted it, on Davis’ hands — into shallow left.

The loss went to Wilson and the bullpen, but the fault lay with Doubront’s inability to offer reliable innings. After all, big league teams entered Thursday with a 64-240 record this year (.211 winning percentage) in games when their starters failed to log five complete innings. The Sox now are 1-8 in such bullpen-battering contests.

To highlight the impact of such short outings: The Sox are 40-19 (.678 winning percentage) when their starters go at least five innings, while their winning percentage drops to just .111 when their starters fail to deliver that modest innings total.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– Doubront saw his streak of four straight starts of six innings snapped, on a night when he was hit relatively hard. He labored to a 103-pitch count in just 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits — a homer, two doubles and four singles. Though he issued just one walk and struck out five, and got six ground ball outs, Doubront remained winless against Baltimore.

– Jacoby Ellsbury went 0-for-5 and saw a number of streaks get halted. His 11-game hitting streak is no more. So, too, is a five-game streak in which he had a hit, scored a run and stole a base — the longest such streak by a Red Sox since Tommy Harper accomplished the feat in 1974. And when Matt Wieters delivered a low-flying laser to second base, Ellsbury had his streak of 18 straight successful stolen base attempts end.

Read the rest of this entry »