The Red Sox are set to open what's sure to be a wild weekend series with the Oakland Athletics on Friday night at Fenway Park. The Sox will do so with an odd lineup in the series opener.
Mike Aviles will spell Carl Crawford for the day, and in the process, Aviles will make his first career start in left field. He'll bat seventh behind Jed Lowrie who is dropped down to the sixth hole.
Marco Scutaro returns to the second spot in the lineup, in front of the Adrian Gonzalez–Dustin Pedroia–David Ortiz combo in the middle of the lineup.
The Sox will face Gio Gonzalez in the first of three games in two days thanks to a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday after Sunday's game was moved up in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.
Gonzalez is 1-1 with a 5.64 ERA in four career starts against the Red Sox. The left-hander took the loss in his only start against Boston this season on April 20, as he went six innings and gave up four runs on eight hits.
Tim Wakefield takes the mound for the Red Sox in search of his 600th career win.
Boston
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Marco Scutaro, SS
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, 3B
Mike Aviles, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Darnell McDonald, RF
