Pedro Ciriaco Continues Evolution as Utility Man as Red Sox Switch Up Lineup

by Zach Stoloff on Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 5:02PM

After sticking with roughly the same lineup throughout a stretch in which the Red Sox won four out of five games, Boston is switching things up for Thursday’s series finale.

The most notable change is the fact that Jacoby Ellsbury rides the pine — at least to start the contest — while Pedro Ciriaco continues his utility man evolution and gets penciled in the leadoff role and center field. Ciriaco played center for a few innings at the tail end of Wednesday’s game, but the outfield in general is still very new to the speedy 26-year-old.

International League MVP Mauro Gomez gets a chance to take some hacks after enjoying a 100-game Triple-A campaign in which the slugger posted a .960 OPS. He gets the start at first base — after a few innings at third on Wednesday — while James Loney takes a seat.

Aside from that, Scott Podsednik and Daniel Nava have been sharing time in left field, but they’re both in the lineup Thursday, as Nava takes over in right while Cody Ross occupies the DH slot. Ryan Lavarnway gets another start behind the plate in another step towards proving his worth as the Red Sox’ “catcher of the future,” while Jose Iglesias again starts at shortstop.

For the Rays, Adam Scott and Carlos Pena get dropped down to seventh and eighth in the lineup, respectively, while the rest of the batting order looks to be status quo.

Check out the lineups for both teams below:

Boston Red Sox
Pedro Ciriaco, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Cody Ross, DH
Ryan Lavarnway,
C
Mauro Gomez, 1B
Mike Aviles, 3B
Daniel Nava, RF
Scott Podsednik, LF
Jose Iglesias, SS

Clay Buchholz, RHP

Tampa Bay Rays
Desmond Jennings, LF
B.J. Upton, CF

Ben Zobrist, SS
Evan Longoria, 3B
Matt Joyce, RF
Jeff Keppinger, 2B
Adam Scott, DH
Carlos Pena, 1B
Jose Molina, C

David Price, LHP