Tag: Baseball

Red Sox Option Robert Stock to Pawtucket in Order to Make Room on Roster for Kyle Hart

As you may already be aware, left-hander Kyle Hart will be making his major-league debut for the Red Sox on Thursday evening. In order to make that happen, however, the Sox had to option right-hander Robert Stock to the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket.

Stock, 30, was initially recalled by Boston on August 11, a little over two weeks after he was claimed off waivers from the Phillies on July 27.

In his brief first go-around with the Red Sox, the University of Southern California product allowed one unearned run on two hits, three walks, and three strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings of relief this past Tuesday against the Rays.

Stock threw 42 pitches, just 18 of which were strikes, in his Red Sox debut and topped out at 98.9 mph with his four-seam fastball. It would not be a surprise to see the flamethrower up with the big-league club once again sometime in the near future.

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As for Hart, the former 19th-round draft pick out of the University of Indiana will be making his long-awaited major-league debut Thursday exactly four years after making his first professional start for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox on August 13, 2016.

The 27-year-old southpaw had been limited to just working in intrasquad games against his teammates at McCoy Stadium since last month, but he will now have the chance to make a strong first impression against the Rays at Fenway Park.

For Hart, command over velocity will be key.

“If you’re not dialed in, locating, then for me, I’m probably not going to be in the game very long if I’m not locating because that’s almost not an option for me,” he told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Christopher Smith on the Fenway Rundown podcast. “But if you’re not locating, then you have to attack with whatever you have that day in the zone. And that kind of goes with trusting your catcher and trusting your defense. We’ve got a pretty darn good defense up here. When in doubt, I want to try to let them make a play. My philosophy is pretty simple on pitching. I want to get a guy out on the first three or four pitches. So I’m trying to miss their barrel early on. When I get to two strikes, I’m trying to miss the bat. That’s kind of how I think about it. If I get to two strikes, I’m going to give you my best punch-out pitch and miss your whole bat. Early in the count, I want to miss your barrel and get you out.”

Hart will take the mound for the Red Sox for the very first time at approximately 4:30 p.m. eastern time on Thursday. The series finale against Tampa Bay will be broadcast on NESN and WEEI.

 

Red Sox President Sam Kennedy Admits Starting Majority of Home Games at 7:30 PM ‘Wasn’t Right Decision’

At 6-12, the Red Sox are off to a dreadful start this season and are on pace to finish the year with a 20-40 record. To make things worse for fans watching at home, the average time it has taken the Sox to complete a game this year has been 3 hours and 18 minutes, which according to Baseball Reference is the fourth-highest mark in Major League Baseball behind the Astros, Angels, and Pirates.

Lengthy games that have resulted in disappointing losses two-thirds of the time are one thing, but again, to add insult to injury, the majority of Red Sox home games this season have started at 7:30 p.m. eastern time. No other team in baseball is doing this, and some are even starting games earlier than they have in the past since attendance is not an issue for the time being.

I could go on about this issue, which you can read more about here,  but what I really found interesting was how Red Sox team president and CEO Sam Kennedy conceded on Wednesday that the late start times for night games at Fenway Park may not have been the best idea in hindsight. 

Appearing on WEEI’s Greg Hill Morning Show earlier Wednesday, Kennedy addressed the issue.

“We talk about scheduling issues each and every day,” he said. “The 7:30 experiment was designed to try and capture the largest television audience possible and given the way the team has played, given maybe the nature of the pandemic with people being home more, perhaps that wasn’t the right decision. We’ll see as we go forward here.”

When asked about moving games up in order to avoid playing at the same time as the Bruins or Celtics, Kennedy said, ” Because we play every day, it is really hard for us to adjust on the fly. We have done that in years past. But, sometimes you find yourselves in a situation like the Bruins yesterday when they were set to play late in the day and then they played at 11 o’clock in the morning given the overtime game.”

In his closing statement, Kennedy emphasized how fluid things have been in terms of scheduling since the 2020 MLB season began last month. While some teams like the Red Sox are closing in on 20 games played, other teams like the Cardinals have only played five due to a COVID-19 outbreak within their ranks.

“We’re literally in a day-to-day situation over here trying to work our way through what is a highly unusual season,” he stated. “Yes, we do talk about changes to the schedule and being flexible.”

If the Red Sox continue to fall out of contention as they are on pace to do, it will be interesting to see how long it will take for any schedule adjustments to be made, if there are any at all.

Red Sox’ Andrew Benintendi Could Miss Significant Amount of Time While Recovering From Rib Cage Strain

Before Wednesday’s eventual 9-5 loss to the Rays, the Red Sox placed outfielder Andrew Benintendi on the 10-day injured list due to a right rib cage strain.

At the time that move was announced, Sox manager Ron Roenicke appeared hopeful that Benintendi would only be out the minimum 10 days. But, after further testing, it seems more likely now that the 26-year-old could miss a significant amount of time.

“He did strain it so he’s going to be a while,” Roenicke said of Benintendi’s injury during his postgame media availability on Wednesday night. “It will probably be more than that 10 days that we talked about.”

Prior to straining his rib cage after tripping and falling down while rounding second base in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s loss to Tampa Bay, Benintendi had put together his best game of the season at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. It seemed like that could have gotten the slumping outfielder going offensively, but he will now have to wait a while to get back on the field.

“This is really unfortunate that it happened,” Roenicke said earlier Wednesday. “what [Benintendi] did yesterday could [have gotten] him going. So I think it’s a tough break and hopefully that he’s not out too long to where he loses that feeling of his swing that he’s been working so hard on.”

In the meantime, Alex Verdugo, Kevin Pillar, J.D. Martinez, Tzu-Wei Lin, and Jose Peraza could all see an uptick in playing time patrolling the outfield while Benintendi is on the mend.

Through the club’s first 18 games this season, Red Sox outfielders rank 25th in baseball in collective OPS (.650) and 25th in collective wRC+ (80).

Late Rally for Red Sox Falls Short in Yet Another Loss to Rays at Fenway Park

On a night they found themselves in an eight-run hole and rallied to score five runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox still could not get past the Rays at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, as they dropped their third straight to their division rivals by a final score of 9-5.

Zack Godley made his third start and fourth overall appearance of the season for Boston in this one and, unlike his last time out on August 8 when he tossed four scoreless innings against the Blue Jays, struggled mightily against another American League East foe.

That being the case because, in just three-plus innings pitched, the right-hander got shelled for eight runs, all of which were earned, on 10 hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts on the night.

The first of those Tampa Bay tallies came right away in the top of the first, when after loading the bases with one out, Godley induced a potential inning-ending grounder off the bat of Joey Wendle.

Michael Chavis fielded the ground ball, but as he prepared to throw the ball for the force out at home, it got wedged in the webbing of the first baseman’s glove and he had to settle for the force out at first while Brandon Lowe scored from third. 1-0.

In the second, Godley was again a victim of some tough luck and hard contact. Lots of hard contact, like when Willy Adames led the frame off by taking the righty deep to the opposite field off an 0-1, 90 mph sinker down the heart of the plate.

Moments later, after recording the first two outs of the inning on back-to-back strikeouts, Godley got the dangerous Austin Meadows to hit a soft pop fly to right field for what probably should have been the final out of the second. Instead, Kevin Pillar had lost sight of the ball as soon as it left Meadows’ bat, and it wound up falling between the right fielder and Jackie Bradley Jr. in center.

As a result of that slight mishap, the Rays were able to extend the inning, and they took full advantage of that when Brandon Lowe laced a two-run blast to the seats in right field off a first-pitch cutter on the inner half of the plate from Godley. 4-0.

Coming back out for the third, the Sox starter served up another hard-hit, two-run shot to Yoshi Tsutsugo to make it a 6-0 game and in the fourth, allowed a seventh run to cross the plate on a Yandy Diaz RBI single before his evening ultimately came to a close.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 74 (45 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler relied on his curveball 47% of the time he was on the mound Wednesday, inducing seven swings-and-misses with the pitch. He also topped out at 91.3 mph with his cutter, a pitch he threw 28 times.

Hit with his second losing decision of the year while seeing his ERA inflate to 8.16, Godley’s rotation spot could be in jeopardy, but if it’s not, his next start could come against the Yankees next Monday.

In relief of Godley, the recently-recalled Ryan Weber got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen, and after closing the book on Godley’s night by allowing an inherited runner to score in the fourth, the right-hander put together an impressive performance working in a mop-up kind of role up until the top of the ninth.

You see, when the Sox were trailing by eight runs, Weber kept the Rays off the scoreboard over four solid innings of work. However, as soon as his side had stormed back to make it a three-run game in their half of the eighth, the 30-year-old gave up a solo homer to Austin Meadows to lead off the very next inning.

It may not have been a back-breaker seeing how the Red Sox dropped this contest by a final score of 9-5, but it was still less than ideal for sure. At least Weber kept the deficit at four from there, although as previously stated, it didn’t matter all that much in the end.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against a former Cy Young Award winner in Rays left-hander Blake Snell, who had only pitched eight total innings through his first three starts of the season while working his way back from an elbow injury.

With Snell’s pitch limit set at 75 for Wednesday’s contest, the Boston bats were in for one heck of a night, and in not in a positive way. That’s for sure.

While the Rays ace was on the bump, Sox hitters managed to reach second base just two times; once on a Michael Chavis stolen base following a two-out single in the second, and again on a J.D. Martinez dropped strike three and Xander Bogaerts single in the fourth.

Other than that, it was nothing but tough sledding against Snell, but things started to turn around for the better in the eighth.

There, four straight hits off reliever Aaron Slegers to lead off the inning resulted in Boston’s first run of the night coming around to score on an RBI single off the bat of the red-hot Jonathan Arauz. 8-1.

Following a brief Tampa Bay mound vist, Martinez wasted no time in introducing himself to Slegers, as he took a first-pitch, 83 mph slider on the inner half and deposited it well over everything in left field for his second dinger and first grand slam of the season.

Despite all that late success, a Rays pitching change that saw nasty right-hander Nick Anderson take over for Slegers impeded any chance of the Red Sox’ rally going any further. In other words, Anderson held things in check in relief of Slegers in the eighth, while fellow righty Pete Fairbanks closed things out with a scoreless ninth inning. And after all was said and done, the Red Sox fell to 6-12 on the season following their third straight loss.

Some notes and observations from this defeat:

From MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith:

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

From The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham:

The Red Sox are 1-12 against the Rays in the clubs’ last 13 games at Fenway Park.

Kevin Pillar went 4-for-4 with four singles on Wednesday.

Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts left Wednesday’s game early and Jonathan Arauz picked up another hit and RBI in place of Devers in the eighth inning.

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Next up for the Red Sox, it’s the finale of this four-game series on Thursday evening.

Left-hander Kyle Hart will get the start and in the process will be making his major-league debut for Boston, while Tyler Glasnow will be making his fourth start of the season for Tampa Bay.

Hart spoke at length about what Thursday will mean for him in the most recent episode of MassLive.com’s Fenway Rundown podcast, so I highly suggest listening to that if you want to learn more about the 27-year-old southpaw.

Glasnow, meanwhile, owns a 5.56 ERA and 5.24 FIP through his first 11 1/3 innings pitched of the 2020 campaign. He owns a lifetime 4.05 ERA and .668 OPS against in two career starts at Fenway Park.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox looking to end the homestand on a positive note before hopping on a flight to Newark.

 

Red Sox Lineup: Rafael Devers Back at Third Base Against Rays After Missing Last Two Games Due to Sore Left Ankle

After being held to just two runs in another disappointing loss to the Rays at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, the Red Sox will look to bounce back on Wednesday by sending right-hander Zack Godley to the mound for his third start and fourth overall appearance of the season.

Since joining the Sox late lost month, the 30-year-old has posted a 3.97 ERA and 4.44 FIP through his first 11 1/3 innings pitched this year. In his last time out at Fenway on August 8, Godley kept the Blue Jays off the scoreboard over four solid frames of work in a contest Boston dropped by a final score of 2-1.

Godley has yet to face Tampa Bay this season, and he’s only faced them twice before in his six-year major-league career. Both of those appearances came last May at Tropicana Field, when as a member of the Diamondbacks bullpen, the South Carolina native allowed three runs over four total innings and even picked up his second career save.

Opposite Godley on Wednesday will be no easy opponent for the Red Sox, as 2018 American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will get the ball for the Rays.

Coming into the week with a 3.38 ERA and 4.28 FIP through his first three starts and eight innings pitched of the 2020 campaign as he works his way back from a left elbow injury, Snell could be able to ramp up his workload to five innings against Boston.

In his career at Fenway Park, the 27-year-old hurler owns a lifetime 3.75 ERA and .683 OPS against over four starts and 24 total innings pitched.

Here’s how the Red Sox will be lining up against Snell and behind Godley on Wednesday. Note that with a southpaw on the mound for Tampa Bay, Mitch Moreland is the only left-handed bat starting this one on the bench for Boston, as Andrew Benintendi was just placed on the injured list due to a right rib cage strain.

Among these nine hitters, Kevin Pillar has seen Snell the best. He has five hits and one RBI in 14 career at-bats against the Rays starter.

Also worth noting here, Rafael Devers is back after missing the last two games on account of a sore left ankle. Encouraging to see.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox going for win No. 7 in game No. 18.

Red Sox Place Andrew Benintendi on Injured List Due to Rib Cage Strain, Recall Ryan Weber From Pawtucket

Prior to taking on the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, the Red Sox have placed outfielder Andrew Benintendi on the 10-day injured list due to a right rib cage strain and in a corresponding move recalled right-hander Ryan Weber from the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket.

Per Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke, Benintendi suffered the strain when he tripped and fell down after rounding second base in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s loss to Tampa Bay.

The hope is that the 26-year-old will only miss the minimum 10 days on the shelf while J.D. Martinez and Jose Peraza will play more outfield in his place. In the meantime, Alex Verdugo will see the majority of his playing time come in left field and Kevin Pillar will see the majority of his come in right.

Prior to straining the right side of his rib cage on Tuesday night, Benintendi had put together his first two-hit game of the 2020 season, so this news comes at a less than ideal time for the struggling outfielder.

“I think it’s a tough break,” Roenicke said of Benintendi being placed on the injured list. “Hopefully he’s not out too long where he loses that feeling of his swing that he’s been working on.”

As for the guy who will be called up in Benintendi’s place, Ryan Weber is back with the big-league club just four days after he was optioned to the alternate training site.

The 30-year-old hurler struggled as the Sox’ No. 3 starter to begin the season, posting a 9.90 ERA over his first three starts. He will be available to pitch in relief of Zack Godley on Wednesday and would otherwise be a “full go” to pitch in relief of Kyle Hart in Thursday’s series finale against Tampa Bay.

With this transaction made, the Red Sox now have 15 pitchers and 13 position players on their active roster. Expect another move to be made on Thursday in lieu of Hart needing to be added before making his first career major-league start.

Red Sox’ Kyle Hart to Make First Career Major-League Start Against Rays on Thursday

Left-hander Kyle Hart will make his first career major-league start for the Red Sox on Thursday against the Rays, manager Ron Roenicke announced following Tuesday’s 8-7 loss to Tampa Bay.

Hart, 27, is regarded by SoxProspects as the No. 42 prospect in the Sox’ farm system.

Drafted by Boston in the 19th round of the 2016 amateur draft out of the University of Indiana as a fifth-year senior, Hart was added to Boston’s 40-man roster last November and was subsequently assigned to the club’s alternate training site last month where he has gotten some work in during simulated games and live batting practice sessions.

With the PawSox in 2019, the former Hoosier posted a 3.86 ERA and 4.32 FIP over 18 appearances (15 starts) and 100 1/3 innings pitched. He also made nine starts for Double-A Portland before getting promoted to Triple-A last May.

Per his SoxProspects scouting report, Hart’s pitch mix included an 87-90 mph fastball, an 85-86 mph cutter, a 76-79 mph curveball, and a 81-82 mph changeup.

Based off that, it becomes apparent that the southpaw doesn’t necessarily rely on his velocity, but rather his control. Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush said as much when speaking with reporters via Zoom on Tuesday.

“His command is going to be critical,” said Bush. “It always is for him because the stuff is not going to light up a radar gun. But he’s got multiple pitches. He commands both sides of the plate.”

Over those 100 1/3 innings with Pawtucket in 2019, Hart struck out just over 19% of the hitters he faced and walked just under 9%. Put another way, he fanned 2.22 times the number of hitters he walked last season.

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 200 lbs., Hart will be opposite Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow on Thursday afternoon. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI.

 

 

Red Sox Endure More Pitching Struggles Out of Bullpen in 8-2 Loss to Rays

It was a close game until it wasn’t. In other words, the Red Sox trailed the Rays by just one run going into the seventh inning of Tuesday’s contest, and wound up dropping their second straight to Tampa Bay by a final score of 8-2.

Martin Perez made his fourth start of the season for Boston in this one and his second straight against the Rays as he was coming off five strong, scoreless innings in his last time out on August 5 at Tropicana Field.

Working 5 2/3 innings at Fenway Park on Tuesday, the left-hander held the opposition to two runs while scattering three hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts on the night.

The first of those two Tampa Bay tallies came right off the bat in the first, when on his sixth pitch, Perez served up a leadoff homer to Mike Brosseau on a 3-2, 91 mph fastball on the outer half of the plate.

That certainly was not a promising way to begin a ballgame, but Perez was able to settle down a bit. As a matter of fact, the only other time the Rays got to the Sox starter came in the third inning on a one-out RBI single from Yandy Diaz.

Other than those two slight mishaps, Perez looked relatively solid once more, as he retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced before a two-out walk to Jose Martinez in the top of the sixth marked the end of his evening.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 94 (57 strikes), the 29-year-old hurler turned to his vaunted changeup 34% of the time he was on the mound Tuesday, inducing seven swings-and-misses with the pitch. He also topped out at 93 mph with his four-seamer, a pitch he threw seven times.

Unfortunately hit with the tough luck loss to fall to 2-2 on the season, Perez did manage to lower his ERA to 3.38. He’ll look to bring that down even more in his next time out, which could come against the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball.

In relief of Perez, Austin Brice got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen, inherited the man Perez had walked, and ended the top half of the sixth by getting Hunter Renfroe to ground out right back to him.

From there, well, let’s just say things got ugly, as Brice and the recently-recalled right-hander Robert Stock combined to surrender six runs on four hits and two walks in the seventh. Christian Vazquez was also charged with a passed ball in the process that saw the Sox’ deficit grow from one run to seven.

Stock came back out for the eighth, loaded the bases while recording the first two outs of the inning, and was replaced by another relative newcomer in Dylan Covey, who got out of the jam and also worked a scoreless ninth to hold the Rays at eight runs. Not like it mattered much in the end, but still another positive development there.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was first matched up against Andrew Kittredge, who had closed things out for the Rays on Monday, yet opened for them on Tuesday.

The right-hander only recorded one out in the first inning though, as he had to depart earlier than expected due to an apparent right arm injury.

After the dust had settled from all that and right-hander John Curtiss was dispatched by Tampa Bay, Michael Chavis opened up the scoring for his side in the second.

Celebrating his 25th birthday on Tuesday, the second baseman followed up a Christian Vazquez two-out double with a hard-hit RBI single to drive in the backstop and tie things up at one run apiece.

Despite all that early adversity, Curtiss and the rest of the Rays pitching staff held things down against a rather stagnant Red Sox offense.

The only other run Boston pushed across in this one came in the eighth inning on an Alex Verdugo RBI single, but even then, Andrew Benintendi cost his side an out by tripping and getting caught in between second and third base on the play. Very on brand for this season.

Verdugo’s fifth RBI of the year made it an 8-2 game in favor of Tampa Bay, which would go on to be Tuesday’s final score.

Some notes and observations from this loss:

In his second straight start at third base in place of Rafael Devers, Jonathan Arauz went 2-for-3 after going 3-for-4 on Monday.

Michael Chavis, meanwhile, may have made a mental error at second base in that troublesome seventh inning, but he did go 2-for-4 at the plate on Tuesday and is now 6-for-his-last-13.

Andrew Benintendi also had a multi-hit game to raise his batting average on the season to .103.

Martin Perez has allowed four earned runs over his last 19 1/3 innings pitched.

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Next up for the Red Sox, it doesn’t get any easier with Blake Snell getting the start for the Rays on Wednesday night. The Red Sox will send out Zack Godley to oppose the 2018 American League Cy Young winner.

Snell has yet to face the Sox this season, but he does own a lifetime 3.75 ERA and .683 OPS against in four career starts and 24 total innings pitched at Fenway Park.

Godley, meanwhile, is coming off four scoreless frames in his second start with the Red Sox against the Blue Jays on August 8. The 30-year-old has only pitched against the Rays twice before in his career and has given up three total runs in those outings.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time.

Red Sox Call up Robert Stock, Option Jeffrey Springs to Pawtucket

Before taking on the Rays in the second of a four-game series at Fenway Park on Tuesday night, the Red Sox have recalled right-hander Robert Stock from the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket and in a corresponding move, optioned left-hander Jeffrey Springs to that same alternate training site.

Stock. 30, was originally claimed by Boston off waivers from the Phillies late last month after he was designated for assignment by Philadelphia on July 23.

Prior to this year, the University of Southern California product appeared in 42 games for the Padres across the 2018 and 2019 seasons, posting an ERA of 4.11 and FIP of 3.27 over 50 1/3 total innings pitched. His rookie campaign was much more effective than his sophomore one, though.

While working out at the Sox’ alternate training site at McCoy Stadium, Stock fanned a pair and reached 100 mph with his four-seam fastball in a sim game appearance over the weekend.

Per Statcast, the former second-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals back in 2009 works with a four-seamer, slider, changeup, and sinker. The average velocity of his heater this past season was 97.9 mph.

If Stock gets into a game during this series against the Rays, I would expect it to come in a low-leverage situation. Of course, he’ll likely be available to work in Thursday’s bullpen game.

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As for Springs, the 27-year-old southpaw was sent down to Pawtucket less than 24 hours after surrendering three runs on five hits in just 1 1/3 innings of relief against Tampa Bay on Monday.

Through his first four appearances with the Red Sox after making his first career Opening Day roster, Springs owns an unsightly 15.43 ERA and 1.164 OPS against over 4 2/3 innings of work.

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With Springs now in Pawtucket, the Red Sox currently have two left-handed pitchers on their 28-man roster, and one of them is Martin Perez. Perhaps Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor are close to returning.

 

 

Red Sox Lineup: Michael Chavis Making First Start of Season at Second Base, Jonathan Araúz Starting in Place of Rafael Devers Once Again in Second of Four Against Rays

Michael Chavis will be making his first start of the season at second base for the Red Sox against the Rays on Tuesday night.

The just-turned 25-year-old (Happy Birthday) had seen all his playing time come at first base, but with right-hander Andrew Kittredge opening for the Rays in the second of this four-game set, Mitch Moreland will get the start at first, Chavis will get the start at second, and Jose Peraza will start the night on the bench.

Through his first nine games of the 2020 campaign, Chavis has gotten off to a rather slow start, slashing .233/.258/.467 with two home runs and four RBI over his first 31 plate appearances.

That being said, the Georgia native has looked more comfortable at the plate in recent outings, as he is 4-for-his-last-9 going back to August 5.

Chavis has only faced Kittredge one time before in his career, which actually came in Monday’s loss where he struck out for the final out of the contest, but he does own a lifetime .879 OPS in 48 career plate appearances against Rays pitching thus far.

Here’s how the rest of the Red Sox will be lining up against Kittredge and behind left-hander Martin Perez, who will be working on six days rest after tossing five scoreless frames against this same Rays squad at Tropicana Field last Wednesday. Note that Jonathan Arauz is starting in place of Rafael Devers, who is dealing with a sore left ankle, once again.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN+ and WEEI. Red Sox going for win No. 7 in game No. 17.