David Ortiz has plenty of experience facing Barry Zito, which means Ortiz will be back in the Red Sox lineup Wednesday against the Giants southpaw in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Ortiz is hitting .400 for his career (10-for-25) with two home runs and five RBIs for his career against Zito. He’s not alone in having success against Zito (far from it), and John Farrell will try to take advantage of that Wednesday afternoon. Both Dustin Pedroia and Stephen Drew are in the lineup, and they have combined to go 15-for-39 against Zito for their careers.
Drew’s return to the lineup, however, means that Xander Bogaerts will start the day on the bench. He went 0-for-3 Tuesday night in his major league debut.
Felix Doubront will make the start for the Red Sox.
Here’s are the lineups for Game 3 of the series.
Boston Red Sox (74-54)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, 1B
Jonny Gomes, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Stephen Drew, SS
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
Felix Doubront, P
San Francisco Giants (56-69)
Andres Torres, CF
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Brandon Belt, 1B
Buster Posey, C
Hunter Pence, RF
Joaquin Arias, 3B
Roger Kieschnick, LF
Brandon Crawford, SS
Barry Zito, P