Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Jarrod Saltalamacchia will all sit against Tampa Bay Rays left-hander David Price on Tuesday at Fenway Park.
Mike Cameron will get the start in place of Ellsbury in center field. Kevin Youkilis slides into Ortiz’s designated hitter role, while Jed Lowrie plays third base in place of Youkilis.
Darnell McDonald, hitless in five at-bats this season, will play right field.
The massive changes are a perfect case of manager Terry Francona utilizing all his options to maximize matchups. Cameron is 3-for-3 with a home run against Price. Lowrie, McDonald and Jason Varitek, who is behind the plate in place of the struggling Saltalamacchia, are a combined 6-for-19 (.316) vs. the lefty.
Youkilis, who enters hitting .167 (5-for-30) will be starting as the DH for the first time in his career.
With Jon Lester on the mound, here is the full batting order for Boston, followed by that of Tampa Bay.
Red Sox
1. Carl Crawford, LF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, DH
5. Jed Lowrie, 3B
6. Mike Cameron, CF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Darnell McDonald, RF
9. Marco Scutaro, SS
Rays
1. Sam Fuld, LF
2. Johnny Damon, DH
3. B.J. Upton, CF
4. Felipe Lopez, 3B
5. Sean Rodriguez, 2B
6. Ben Zobrist, RF
7. Kelly Shoppach, C
8. Dan Johnson, 1B
9. Elliot Johnson, SS
