BOSTON — Roenis Elias is set to make his first start in a Red Sox uniform Friday, and he’s doing it against his former team.
Elias spent the first two seasons of his career with the Seattle Mariners, compiling a 15-20 record and 3.97 ERA in 49 starts. Now, he’ll get to take them on at Fenway Park in the first of a three-game series. The left-hander officially was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday afternoon, and infielder Josh Rutledge was sent to the 15-day disabled list with left knee patellar tendinitis.
“Yeah, it’s been coming on,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said of Rutledge’s injury. “He hasn’t been able to swing the bat as aggressively as he did when he first came up. Even in the early work to stay ready with his routine, it started to linger, so the patellar tendinitis has continued to advance. And as much as he tried to get through it by the treatment and managing of it, he needs rest.”
In the rest of the lineup, Sandy Leon will start and bat ninth for the second consecutive day. Farrell said he made the move to give Christian Vazquez an extra day of early batting practice and because Leon caught Elias a few times in Pawtucket. Chris Young also is back in the lineup and batting seventh.
Here are both teams’ lineups for Friday.
RED SOX (37-28)
Mookie Betts, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Chris Young, LF
Travis Shaw, 3B
Sandy Leon, C
Roenis Elias, LHP (4-3, 3.54 ERA in Triple-A)
MARINERS (35-31)
Ketel Marte, SS
Franklin Gutierrez, RF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Dae-ho Lee, 1B
Kyle Seager, 3B
Chris Iannetta, C
Leonys Martin, CF
Nori Aoki, LF
Hisashi Iwakuma, RHP (5-5, 4.10 ERA)
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
