Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford Batting Back-to-Back Atop Red Sox’ Order

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford will hit back-to-back for the second straight day when they start things off for the Red Sox against the Minnesota Twins on Friday afternoon.

Ellsbury and Crawford were at the top of the lineup Thursday when Boston fell to Tampa Bay 8-6. Dustin Pedroia, who has batted between them much of the time this spring and likely will in the regular season, was not on the travel roster to face the Rays and is spending Friday on the bus to Kissimmee, where the other half of the Red Sox roster will face the Houston Astros.

Jason Varitek gets the start behind the plate against Minnesota. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is also expected to catch some innings as the team tries to give him some work with a few relievers.

Here are the Red Sox lineups for both games Friday.

Boston-Minnesota:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Carl Crawford, LF
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Jason Varitek, C
7. Nate Spears, 2B
8. Drew Sutton, 1B
9. Yamaico Navarro, SS

Boston-Houston:

1. Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Jed Lowrie, 1B
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
4. Ryan Kalish, CF
5. Darnell McDonald, LF
6. Daniel Nava, DH
7. Josh Reddick, RF
8. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
9. Mark Wagner, C

Also, here is the Twins lineup, with Justin Morneau playing for the first time since July 7:

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 2B
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jim Thome, DH
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7. Jason Kubel, RF
8. Steve Holm, C
9. Alexi Casilla, SS