Right-hander Colten Brewer will make his first career start for the Red Sox against the Yankees on Friday night, the club announced.
Brewer has made 75 relief appearances with both the Padres and Red Sox since making his major-league debut in April 2018, but Friday will mark his first start at the highest level. He will be the 10th different Boston pitcher to make a start this season through the club’s first 20 games.
The 27-year-old was originally brought up as a starting pitcher upon getting drafted by the Pirates in the fourth round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Canton High School in Texas, but his last start before moving to the bullpen full-time came on June 25, 2016.
In three career relief appearances at Yankee Stadium, where the Red Sox will open a four-game weekend wraparound series on Friday, Brewer has surrendered two earned runs on three hits (one home run) and one walk over two total innings of work. That’s good for an ERA of 9.00 and an OPS against of 1.067, albeit it is a relatively small sample size.
The highest number of innings Brewer has worked in a game through his first six outings of the 2020 campaign has been three, which he accomplished against the Rays this past Monday while raising his ERA on the year to 3.60.
With that in mind, expect the righty to be more of an opener than a starter in what will be a bullpen game for Boston in the first of four against Gerrit Cole and the first-place Yankees.
First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI.
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