Giants-Red Sox Preview
BOSTON -- Drew Pomeranz insists he's ready for whatever the Boston Red Sox ask him to do, but the task at hand is one that's relatively new to the 27-year-old southpaw.
The assignment? A shutdown pitcher for a big-market team in a hitter-friendly ballpark.
"I've done literally everything there is to do on a baseball field as a pitcher," he said after being traded to Boston from San Diego last Thursday. "You could shove me out there in any situation, I've done it."
He's started games, he's closed them -- and everything in between.
One thing Pomeranz hasn't done yet is pitch in a Red Sox uniform, but he'll get the chance in Wednesday's series finale against the San Francisco Giants at Fenway Park.
"Pretty excited to go to Boston," Pomeranz said. "It's a great city, great team. They've been doing well all year. They're right there in the race.
"They want to win here, and I want to win, too."
Pomeranz (8-7, 2.47 ERA) faces a familiar foe in his Red Sox debut, a Giants team he's already faced three times this season and was scheduled to start against last Sunday before the trade.
Boston (52-39) earned a 4-0 victory over the league-leading Giants (57-37), which has never won in four tries at Fenway Park since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
The Giants suffered a three-game sweep at Fenway in 2007.
Pomeranz, a first-time All-Star, is 0-2 with a 2.60 ERA in three starts against San Francisco this season and 1-4 with a 4.54 ERA over nine appearances (seven starts) lifetime.
Buster Posey is 6-for-13 (.462) with two homers and three RBI against Pomeranz. The only Giants player who has hit Pomeranz harder is Hunter Pence (4-for-14, four homers, eight RBI).
Pence, however, won't be a factor, as he was held out of a rehab game with Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday for precautionary reasons. He's been out since June 1 with a right hamstring strain.
Second baseman Joe Panik (concussion) rehabbed with Sacramento on Tuesday as he recovers from being hit in the head by a pitch June 18 at Tampa Bay.
Pomeranz's debut with the Red Sox is poised to overshadow the return of San Francisco's Matt Cain (1-5, 5.34 ERA), who will be making his first start since returning from the disabled list.
Cain hasn't pitched since June 13, when he sustained a right hamstring strain. He was 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA over three minor-league rehab starts, allowing 13 runs and 14 hits in 13 innings.
"He's ready to go," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's got no issues with the hamstring. We just hope he's sharp and gives his team a chance to win."
The three-time All-Star has faced Boston once, giving up a run on three hits with three strikeouts over seven innings during the Giants' only prior trip to Fenway in June 2007.
Hanley Ramirez, who spent three seasons in the National League West with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has hit Cain well, going 13-for-47 with two homers and five RBI.
Aaron Hill, a utility infielder the Red Sox also recently acquired, is 9-for-32 (.281) with two triples, a homer and three RBI against Cain.
Boston may be without another late-inning reliever, as Koji Uehara departed Tuesday's appearance after throwing just seven pitches in the ninth inning.
He was diagnosed with a pectoral strain.
The Red Sox are already without Junichi Tazawa (right shoulder impingement), but he threw all of his pitchers in Tuesday's simulated game and is likely to return Friday.
