Jon Lester will pitch Sunday with Alfredo Aceves scheduled Monday.
Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lackey will pitch Saturday against Tampa Bay in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS, Fla, - John Lackey will start the Red Sox Grapefruit League opener Saturday against Tampa Bay at JetBlue Park.
After missing the the entire 2012 season for Tommy John elbow surgery, Lackey showed up in his best shape since coming to Boston in 2010, He will pitch one inning.
Jon Lester will pitch Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla. On Monday, Alfredo Aceves will face Tampa Bay at Port Charlotte, and Steven Wright will start against Toronto in Dunedin.
It is not known which game Aceves will pitch. He is not in his team's best graces.
On Monday, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington told Aceves' agent, Tom O'Connell, that the club valued his client's skill but would not tolerate any more distractions.
The previous day, Aceves had lobbed pitches at batting practice, earning a lecture from manager John Farrell. The Red Sox reportedly believe Aceves was giving Farrell's authority an early test.
The first Red Sox games are Thursday against Northeastern University and Boston College. A total of 14 pitchers, all relievers, are listed to pitch in the two seven-inning games.
The hurlers against Northeastern will be Joel Hanrahan, Daniel Bard, Andrew Miller, Alex Wilson, Clayton Mortensen, Pedro Beato and Chris Carpenter.
The pitchers against BC will be Koji Uehara, Andrew Bailey, Oscar Villarreal, Terry Doyle, Jose De La Torre, Anthony Carter and Junichi Tazawa.
SOX NOTES: Dustin Pedroia refuted reports that he had begun tweeting. Any Pedroia tweets are said to be fakes [UPDATE: Pedroia later admitted the @15LaserShow Twitter account is, in fact, him]... Will Middlebrooks has been impressed with Mike Napoli's skills at first base. "I've thrown him some sliders, some balls in the dirt, and he's picked them out, no problem,'' the third baseman said. ... David Ortiz told media he thinks Boston's underrated status this season will be a motivating factor. Pitcher Ryan Dempster said Sunday that "motivation is from within,'' and would not be much of a factor one way or the other. The players in general seem to like the chance to prove low expectations wrong - a rare opportunity for this high-profile franchise.