Mike Lowell is back at designated hitter and J.D. Drew has been dropped down to the sixth spot in the Red Sox lineup as they get set to face southpaw CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees.
The Lowell-David Ortiz platoon is in full bloom, for now, and while neither seems pleased with it and the situation causes daily discussions in the city, it has been remarkably productive of late.
Lowell and Ortiz have combined to hit .400 (10-for-25) with three home runs and 10 RBIs while batting in the DH role in the month of May. Lowell is 5-for-19 (.263) with seven strikeouts against Sabathia.
Marco Scutaro and Kevin Youkilis are a combined 14-for-39 (.359) vs. the lefty. Dustin Pedroia is 1-for-17 with an uncharacteristic six strikeouts.
Drew, who is batting .462 (12-for-26) in May, will bat sixth for the third time in 2010.
The Yankees originally had Robinson Cano out of the lineup but have inserted him at DH. Cano took a pitch from Josh Beckett off his left knee Friday night and was forced to leave the game.
New York is without regular DH Nick Johnson, who is likely headed to the disabled list with a nagging right wrist injury. In addition, catcher Jorge Posada is out of the starting lineup for the fourth straight game due to a right calf injury. There is word he may DH on Sunday.
Here are the complete lineups:
Red Sox
Marco Scutaro SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Mike Lowell DH
J.D. Drew RF
Adrian Beltre 3B
Bill Hall LF
Darnell McDonald CF
Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano DH
Nick Swisher RF
Randy Winn LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ramiro Pena 2B
