The recently called up Middlebrooks will be in the second spot for Bobby Valentine as the Sox welcome the second-place Baltimore Orioles to town for the first meeting of the season between the AL East rivals.
With Middlebrooks moving up to the No. 2 spot in the order, second baseman Dustin Pedroia slides down to hit cleanup for the Red Sox who will be taking on Wei-Yin Chen. Pedroia will likely have no qualms about hitting cleanup. In 31 career appearances in the No. 4 spot, he's a .397 hitter with seven home runs and 28 RBIs.
Here's the rest of the Red Sox lineup behind Friday's starter Jon Lester.
Red Sox (11-13)
Mike Aviles, SS
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Cody Ross, RF
Darnell McDonald, LF
Marlon Byrd, CF
Kelly Shoppach, C
Jon Lester, P
Orioles (16-9)
Robert Andino, 2B
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Markakis, RF
Adam Jones, CF
Matt Wieters, DH
Wilson Betemit, LF
Chris Davis, 1B
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Ronny Paulino, C
Wei-Yin Chen, P